As Scoop Jardine brings the ball past half court, Brandon Triche is constantly on the move. In Syracuse’s practice Tuesday, Triche cuts through the lane and weaves past imaginary Georgetown defenders.

Triche runs around while Jardine dribbles up top in the role Triche played one year ago on this Syracuse team. After a flurry of passes, Triche cuts to the right corner. He catches the ball and hits an open 3-pointer.

‘Nice, Brandon!’ SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins says.

This is the role Triche has come to embrace in his sophomore season with the Orange. A year ago, he split time at point guard with Jardine, and his primary job was to find Andy Rautins and Wes Johnson for open shots or Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku down low. This season, his job is to get open and create from the off-guard position.

After struggling with the transition during the early portion of the season, Triche has adapted and become a major factor from the position in Big East play. And as Georgetown (18-5, 7-4 Big East) comes to the Carrier Dome for a conference rivalry game with the Orange (20-4, 7-4) at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Triche will look to continue his hot streak.

‘The coaches are always telling me to be aggressive,’ Triche said after SU’s 66-58 victory at Connecticut last Wednesday. ‘That’s what I did. I try to get shots up there and give Rick, Baye and Kris chances to rebound.’

That change in Triche’s timid shooting attitude from the early goings — he attempted double-digit shots in just two of SU’s first 16 games — started in the Orange’s win at Seton Hall on Jan. 8.

In that game, Triche attempted only one shot in the first half — a missed layup. But right out of the gate in the second half, he came out firing. Two minutes into the half, he broke an early tie with a 3-pointer. Then he came up with a steal and raced down the court for a layup.

‘I just said to myself, ‘I’m going to shoot,” Triche said after the game. ‘First half, I shot one shot. Second half, I figure when I’m open — even if I’m not open — I’m going to try to look at the basket and put the shot up there. And the first four shots went down and helped us out.’

He shot 5-of-6 from the field in the half, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. After a narrow five-point escape against the Pirates, SU head coach Jim Boeheim said that without Triche, the Orange ‘wouldn’t have been in the game.’ Triche said the game boosted his confidence.

And Hopkins said it was the start of the turn from Triche’s early-season struggles to his newfound success.

‘I thought the point where Brandon started looking like the guy we all think he is was the second half of the Seton Hall game at Seton Hall,’ Hopkins said. ‘We were playing horrible. He just carried us. Three. Three. Get in the lane. Steal.

‘That Brandon Triche we all know and love.’

Soon Triche scored in double figures with regularity. He has done so in eight of 11 Big East games.

Hopkins credits Triche’s rapid ascent to key contributor to two things. First, growing comfortable playing with Jardine in a two-guard set. Hopkins said the pair has learned to play together after splitting time last year at one position. That was evident in the duo’s play in SU’s transition game against South Florida last weekend.

‘The chemistry with him and Scoop is getting better,’ Hopkins said. ‘That’s an important issue. That was a whole new relationship that needed to be built.’

And Triche also worked on his shot. Specifically, what Hopkins refers to as a ‘pre-shot’ — the movement to get open and the balance to go up for the shot quickly. With the improved ‘pre-shot,’ Triche is ready to shoot before the ball is in his hands.

Triche displayed this at Connecticut when, with the Orange nursing a 53-52 lead with less than five minutes remaining, he caught a pass from Jardine in the left corner and nailed a clutch 3-pointer.

‘We promote a lot of what Andy Rautins did as the two-guard,’ Hopkins said. ‘How hard he came off screens. Always being ready to shoot. Always having your hands ready. Always being in position to be the dagger in the game.

‘And I think Brandon’s become that guy.’

On Wednesday against Georgetown, SU will look for Triche to be that guy again. The Hoyas collapse on their opponents driving into the lane, leaving the potential for shooters like Triche to get open with that constant movement.

‘When we’re losing, my team needs me,’ Triche said. ‘That’s when I put my foot on the gas pedal, be aggressive and put up shots.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

 

Published on February 8, 2011 at 12:00 pm