Malachi Richardson struggles from field against Elon but finds other ways to score
Russ Scalf | Contributing Photographer
Malachi Richardson struggled from the field on Saturday night against Elon. Instead he drove the lane and hit eight foul shots in the second half.
Malachi Richardson looked like he was doing a shooting drill. A pass zipped across the perimeter from Michael Gbinije. A clank off the front rim. An offensive rebound from Trevor Cooney, then a pass from Gbinije to Richardson standing in the same spot. Same result.
His first two long-range attempts fewer than three minutes into the game were an indication of how Richardson’s first poor shooting night of his career would go.
“Jump shot wasn’t really falling,” Richardson said.
Richardson wasn’t the same player that shot 10-of-23 from the field in his first two games. Instead he shot just 1-of-7 from the field with five misses from behind the arc. But he attacked the basket in the second half and scored eight points at the line as the Orange (3-0) pulled ahead late to defeat Elon, 66-55, on Saturday night in the Carrier Dome.
“He’s going to have to have some off shooting nights,” SU head coach Jim Boehiem said. “He’s not going to shoot 45 percent from the 3 every night. He’s got to play through it.”
Richardson started the second half by hitting two free throws. More than 35 percent of SU’s second-half offense after the break came from him getting to the line.
After the game, he was short with his answers, sticking to the point that both he and Syracuse needed to be better. But he acknowledged a need to attack the rim when his shot was failing him.
With two minutes left in the game, Richardson drove the ball from the right side of the perimeter into two defenders under the basket. He got to the line, and put Syracuse up eight with just 1:46 to play.
It was a point of emphasis for a Syracuse offense that backed off its 3-point heavy game plan to shoot just 6-of-15 from long range on the night.
“It’s going to happen,” Trevor Cooney said. “And the one good this is that he recognized it. That shows a lot about his maturity as a person and in his game. He’s able to see that and attack the rim.
“You’re not going to make 3s every single game.”
Published on November 21, 2015 at 11:11 pm
Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3
