As Syracuse basketball shooters are bottled up, Jimmy Boeheim will thrive

Syracuse basketball graduate student forward Jimmy Boeheim had himself some kind of offensive performance in the team’s 67-53 loss to No. 6 Villanova on Tuesday night in the 2021 Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.

With a pro-Orange crowd cheering on the ‘Cuse from the world’s most famous arena in New York City, the 6-foot-8 Boeheim led all scorers on either squad with 21 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field.

The transfer from Cornell logged about 38 minutes of court time, according to ESPN, although he only secured two rebounds. To be fair, virtually the entire Orange team was dreadful on the glass, getting outrebounded by more than 20 to the Wildcats (7-2).

Still, Boeheim was tremendous on offense for Syracuse basketball (5-4, 1-0). He continues to shine using both hands around the basket, and he’s a pretty physical player, which I believe is lacking from a good portion of the current Orange roster.

And Boeheim’s prowess at scoring in the paint is critical for the ‘Cuse as it attempts to find scoring balance, given that the Orange often is heavily reliant on 3-point shooting.

The scoring chances will continue on for Syracuse basketball forward Jimmy Boeheim.

Against the Wildcats, several ‘Cuse sharp-shooters really struggled from the field, namely senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim and senior forward Cole Swider. To his credit, Swider did haul in a dozen boards.

Through nine games, the scouting report on Syracuse basketball is that this group is dangerous from deep, and the Orange is connecting on 37 percent from long range as a collective unit, per ESPN statistics.

It seems abundantly clear that opposing defenders are going to be right up in the faces of Swider, Buddy Boeheim and a third 3-point specialist, junior point guard Joe Girard III.

As that occurs, it is opening up driving lanes for other ‘Cuse players, specifically Jimmy Boeheim. In his post-game press conference following the setback to Villanova, Boeheim noted that defenders will continue honing in on those other guys, and he’s got to take advantage of that by getting into the lane and scoring effectively at the rim.

So far in the 2021-22 stanza, I’d say that Boeheim is capitalizing quite well. He’s second on the team in scoring at roughly 15 points per game, and Boeheim is third in rebounding, at nearly six boards per contest.

What’s more, Boeheim is connecting on a strong 48 percent from the field and an impressive 44 percent from 3-point land, although his 67 percent shooting from the charity stripe, hopefully, will come up.

Girard has shot well from beyond the arc in 2021-22, although Swider and Buddy Boeheim are struggling. Jimmy Boeheim, though, has really been solid in providing an offensive spark to the Orange.