CORAL GABLES, Fla. — C.J. Fair almost seemed surprised when the two shots missed. Both times he clapped his hands in frustration and shook his head.

That’s not what he’s accustomed to. Both shots were from the baseline, but both were off target. The first from the right, the second from the left.

But Fair swished his third baseline jumper. When it glided through the net, he calmly trotted downcourt per usual.

That was more like it.

“That was a big shot to be took,” Trevor Cooney said. “After missing two, that shot didn’t faze him at all. He just stepped right into it and knocked that one down.”

Fair finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, helping No. 2 Syracuse (19-0, 6-0 Atlantic Coast) to a 64-52 win over Miami (10-9, 2-5) at the BankUnited Center on Saturday. He struggled for some of the game, but hit shots in crunch time.

His baseline jumper returned to form at an opportune moment. Despite a hand in his face, Fair rose up and drilled the shot to give SU a 53-49 lead with 4:03 to go.

Cooney expected nothing less.

“The percentage on him probably for all four years is pretty high,” he said with a grin, referring to his teammate’s venerated baseline jump shot.

Fair got off to a hot start, too. He nailed a 3 off a pretty pass from Tyler Ennis, tipped in a Michael Gbinije miss and converted a three-point play to extend SU’s lead to 26-8.

Then he went ice cold, missing six consecutive field goals. As Fair struggled, so did Syracuse. Miami outscored SU 23-7 and clawed back into a game that seemed out of reach.

But Fair helped solidify the end result alongside Ennis — his partner in crime — hitting the jumper and nailing two free throws.

The bread and butter of the John R. Wooden Award candidate’s game was back on track.

It was just a matter of time.

Said SU forward Jerami Grant: “He makes it all the time in practice and his workouts.”

Published on January 25, 2014 at 10:55 pm

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass