Taurean Thompson’s third rebound of the night, and maybe his most important of the season, set him up for a second chance.

Eight seconds remained in the game and Syracuse led Wake Forest by two, as Thompson skied for the rebound off Dinos Mitoglou’s missed free throw. He was fouled, with almost a full court length to walk before he tried to do what he couldn’t just minutes before.

With 2:53 remaining and SU up two, Thompson missed a pair of free throws and Mitchell Wilbekin hit a go-ahead 3-pointer 20 seconds later. This time, though, the freshman hit both from the charity stripe to put the Orange up four and seal an 81-76 win over Wake Forest in SU’s first conference game decided by single digits.

In four of Syracuse’s last six games, Thompson has scored four or fewer points. That’s from a forward who is in the lineup primarily for his offense. But after an 18-point showing against the Demon Deacons on 70-percent shooting from the field, Thompson’s stock is back on the upswing as Syracuse (12-9, 4-4 Atlantic Coast) prepares to host No. 6 Florida State (18-3, 6-2) Saturday at noon.

“Taurean played great in the middle,” sophomore Tyler Lydon said. “He was active today in the middle, came up with some big stops for us and was able to knock down some shots.”

Thompson might have been Syracuse’s third-best player on the court behind Andrew White (career-high 27 points) and Lydon (15 points, nine rebounds and five assists). That’s when Thompson poured in 16 points in the second half, the kind of collective efforts the Orange has been craving to steer this season back on track.

Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

The most noticeable difference in Thompson’s game from past contests is that he’s not settling for jump shots. He’s fallen in love with the mid-range jumper — which he’s shown an ability to knock down — but there’s been little production in the paint from the freshman.

On Tuesday night, Thompson lived near the basket, trying to match Wake’s John Collins bucket for bucket in the low post to keep Syracuse afloat in the frontcourt battle.

“We got him some easy shots down there,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He finished ‘em.”

Against an interior force such as Collins, the common belief was that Tyler Roberson would get the larger chunk of minutes than Thompson because of his defensive prowess, but the senior’s foul trouble thrust Thompson into an ACC nail-biter for the first time in his career.

What resulted was Thompson going coast to coast before finishing an alley-oop from Tyus Battle, a massive rejection at the end of the shot clock that brought the Carrier Dome crowd to its feet. The game-sealing free throws ensued, even though Thompson boasted an underwhelming 60.8-percent clip from the charity stripe as he stepped to the line.

He will be tasked with bucking the trend of struggling to string together notable offensive outings when Syracuse welcomes the sixth-ranked Seminoles to the Dome on Saturday. Through eight games in league play, Thompson has only once scored double digits in back-to-back games.

If Syracuse has any remote chance of picking up its first signature win of the season, especially against another menacing frontcourt, the freshman may have to be at the forefront once again.

“Down the stretch we just came together and we just kept pushing,” Thompson said of Syracuse’s comeback. “We knew we could do it. I know we could do much better moving forward.”

Published on January 26, 2017 at 10:53 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman