Trevor Cooney went into the locker room at intermission with 14 points, a good blend of inside and outside shooting that's continued a recent resurgence.
By that point, he not only led Syracuse in points, but outscored the entire Colgate lineup.
The Orange continued its dominance over its in-state rivals with a 78-43 victory over Colgate in the Carrier Dome. The offensively-challenged Raiders, who managed just 13 points by the halftime break, have now lost to Syracuse in each of their last 49 meetings, a streak that dates back to the 1961-62 season. Syracuse improved to 7-4 on the season, while the Raiders fell to 3-9.
The Orange dominated in the turnover margin, in the rebounding battles and in the paint. Syracuse's interior combination of Rakeem Christmas and Chris McCullough forced the Raiders to settle for long shots, which they struggled with all night. Colgate made just 3-of-23 attempts from behind-the-arc, good for 13 percent.
"It starts with our defense," Christmas said. "We just wanted to come in here, force them off the line and make them take tough threes and that's what we did."
The Orange dictated play right from the start by using a mix of halfcourt zone and fullcourt press, which flummoxed the Raiders. Syracuse shut out Colgate for six minutes and 19 seconds of game time early in the first half and the Orange took advantage with a 16-0 run during that stretch.
Michael Gbinije pressured Colgate's Luke Roh into a turnover around midcourt, then found Cooney streaking to the basket for a easy layup. It was one of 18 turnovers from the Raiders, compared to just six from the Orange.
"When we come out and play defense like we did the past two games, we're going to be in games towards the end," Cooney said. "We just have to make those plays and as we learn and and as we progress, we're going to make those plays down the stretch."
A few minutes later, Cooney completed Syracuse's scoring run with a picturesque three, a high-arching floater from the left wing, that gave his team a 22-5 advantage.
"All year I've wanted him to be more aggressive," Jim Boeheim said. "I think he's finally figured it out that he's had to be. It's made a big difference, I think, with our team."
Cooney led all scorers with 20 points on 8-15 shooting, while also chipping in four assists. After a cold start to the season, Cooney has now scored at least 17 points in each of the last three games.
Besides Cooney, Christmas led Syracuse with 16 points, while Ron Patterson and Gbinije added 13 and 11, respectively.
The Raiders came close to breaking a previous record they set for the fewest points by a Syracuse opponent in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse beat Colgate, 58-35, back in 2005. The Raiders hit a few late field goals in this one to avoid another record-breaking loss but, by then, the Orange had easily wrapped up a much-needed win.
Still, Boeheim gave a mixed response when asked whether his team has gotten better over the course of the season.
"We've had a lot of tough games that I think that overall, we have gotten better. But I think that we've got a long way to go to be where we'd like to be."
Added Boeheim, "A long way."