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The first screen Jesse Edwards set on a Louisville defender, intended to free Buddy Boeheim for a transition 3 less than a minute into the second half, didn’t work, so he flipped around and tried again. This time, he faced Dre Davis. And when Davis’ 6-foot-6 frame started to brush against Edwards’ chest, he slipped left and rolled toward the basket.

It was a similar type of pick-and-roll action to what Orange had used earlier in their 92-69 win over Louisville on Saturday and throughout the entire season. Defenses, playing Buddy tighter than normal, needed to be maneuvered away from SU’s shooters to free up open space, but in recent games — including this sequence with Edwards — a different threat, one that started as a secondary option but has quickly emerged as a primary one, has surfaced.

As soon as he slid behind Davis and reached the paint, Edwards thrust his right arm into the air, collected the pass from Buddy and rose for a two-handed dunk that pushed the Orange’s lead to 47-26. Edwards finished with 19 points for the second consecutive game and said postgame that Syracuse (12-11, 6-6 ACC) has worked on the pick-and-roll sets in practice, while he individually has focused on rolling faster, because it’s difficult to defend when the shooters he’s setting screens for have converted at a clip above 50% over the three-game winning streak.

“I just think that we’re shooting well from the perimeter, that people are staying with our perimeter guys, so they can’t really help inside as much,” Jim Boeheim said on Monday’s Atlantic Coast Conference coaches’ Zoom call.

Edwards said that rolling quicker to the blocks has been something that assistant coach Allen Griffin has always stressed, helping him recognize that as soon as he felt a defender moving off him, he needed to roll to the rim and create extra room and separation. “The shooter can either shoot, pass to me or to another shooter because there might be help defense,” Edwards said. And depending on whether that defense switched, hedged or doubled the guard after the screen, Edwards’ pocket of space could sometimes be bigger than usual.

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“They got to choose one of the other(s), and when they choose the shooter and I get a good pass in there it’s just a nice finish and it’s a great play,” Edwards said. “I think we’ll keep getting some opportunities from that one right there.”

Learning how to execute screens, and pick and rolls, was one of the first fundamental tactics that his older brother Rens Edwards taught Edwards when he first started learning the game, Rens said last season. He learned that skill, and along the way, he developed a well-rounded toolbox of offensive moves that flashed at times last season when Edwards was a reserve center for SU and have become more prominent throughout this season, his first as a starter. 

It has allowed Edwards’ increased level of comfort within SU’s offense to pair with an understanding of how to feel out the open space on rolls, while also sensing the open space in case another scoring opportunity emerges as defenses adjust to his roll. 

With 14:30 left in the opening frame against Louisville, Edwards screened for Buddy while standing on the logo at midcourt before rolling right after a pair of defenders, including his own, collapsed on the Syracuse guard as he picked up his dribble. 

The Cardinals hedged, meaning Edwards’ primary defender slid back toward him as he motioned toward the basket, but another pair of Louisville defenders inched over toward him just in case Sydney Curry couldn’t recover in time. That allowed Edwards to fling a pass across his body, all in the same motion while he drove, to an open Cole Swider on the perimeter in the corner for an open 3. 

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To start the second half against NC State on Wednesday, Edwards positioned himself next to Terquavion Smith like he was setting a screen but hardly made contact with the Wolfpack’s guard before rolling to the basket. Instead, Edwards snuck behind a pair of NC State defenders and slammed the ball through the net as they turned their heads. They’d tried to take away Joe Girard III and a potential shot at the top of the key, but instead it left Edwards with a more open, and more convertible one — as he holds the 16th-best 2-point percentage in the country this season, according to KenPom — closer to the basket.

At some point, defenses will have to adjust to Edwards rolling toward the basket, like when Louisville deflected a pass intended to travel from Buddy in the corner to Edwards rolling baseline. They can’t peel off shooters like Swider, Boeheim said. They can’t leave Buddy, either. That usually means someone, for some time, will leave Edwards open. 

Those lanes for Edwards are the ones that’ve been open, sparking SU’s latest offensive burst. When they close, it’ll free up more space for Syracuse’s shooters, the ones starting to find their rhythm as the season enters its final eight games.

“He’s gotten some real uncontested looks that are very unusual,” Boeheim said, “and I don’t expect to see that continue.”

Published on February 7, 2022 at 11:51 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew