Breaking down Tyus Battle’s game-winning shot for Syracuse against Maryland

The Syracuse Orange squeaked out an impressive win last night against Maryland, 72-70 as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. It was a total team effort, but the win was made possible by Tyus Battle’s go ahead three with 1:04 left in the game.

No, this wasn’t your typical buzzer beating bucket as time expired, but it was a game-winning play nonetheless. At that point in the contest Syracuse trailed Maryland 66-65, but the shot proved to be pivotal as Syracuse would never relinquish the lead thereafter.

So how was Tyus able to get open in such a vital point in the game? We break that down.

First, the ball went out of bounds on the previous play which resulted in a sideline inbounds pass from Oshae Brissett to Frank Howard. Nothing extravagant to point out here.

This is where we dive into the substance of the play. Paschal Chukwu is going to come up and set a ball screen for Frank, something we’ve seen time and again. Frank is going to come off the ball screen left and that’s when the play starts to develop. Notice Oshae and Tyus on opposite wings from each other. The defense is forced to make a decision and Anthony Cowan chooses to go over the top of the screen — Frank makes the correct choice to drive.

As Frank continues the drive, Marek Dolezaj comes to set a flare screen for Tyus and Tyus is going to fade corner. Paschal rolls to the rim while Oshae is going to come up on the opposite wing and replace the open space. Theoretically, this would allow a lob for Paschal without weak-side help or it would give Oshae an open look, depending on how the defense reads and reacts.

Instead, Tyus is able to shake loose on the flare and Frank sees over the top of the defense to fire a pass to Tyus on the strong-side corner. On the opposite side, Kevin Huerter helps off of Oshae on Paschal’s roll which gives Oshae open space. Nonetheless, Frank makes the correct read for two reasons: it’s easier to make a strong side pass than it is to reverse the ball in this situation and Tyus is the best offensive player on the court.

The pass paid immediate dividends as Tyus gets a wide open look from the corner and you know the rest.

Watch the play develop below in live action.