Could bats be the key to Syracuse’s three-point shooting?

Before the Syracuse Orange’s blowout win over Oxygen Bassano, the players had to deal with something unusual during warm-ups. A number of bats entered the Palazzetto Dello Sport when the doors were opened for fans and they created a challenge for the Syracuse players.

From Air Bud himself:

“That was very scary,” Buddy Boeheim said. “I stayed in the middle of the court. They were hovering on the left and right sideline. They were playing tag. I was really concerned at first...”

Apparently that fear and concern fueled Buddy’s outside shooting stroke as he went on to hit 5 of 11 from deep after only hitting three in game one of the trip. It’s a good thing that Jim Boeheim can easily find out what other things scare Buddy and implement them in future warm-ups. One game maybe it’s giant spiders, or creepy clowns, or maybe it’s just a bunch of people wearing Georgetown uniforms. Whatever it is, we need to keep an eye out during the season.

Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images

Overall, Syracuse improved from 11-for-35 on 3-pointers in their first game to 16-for-43 in the second. Maybe the percentage isn’t amazing just yet, but if this Orange team is going to rely on the outside shot then getting closer to 40% from 3 is a good sign.

However, the one concern from the pre-game visit is that Joe Girard might be getting a visit from the Carabinieri to provide more information regarding this statement.

“I was right there, shooting and I heard everybody say ‘woooo,’” Joe Girard said. “Next thing I knew, the bat was dead. One of them was dead. A ball hit it, I think, then it smashed on the ground dead. But then three others came so …”

We know JG3 is renowned for his marksmanship on the court, but he needs to make sure the only thing he’s knocking dead are those 3 Puntis and not the Pipistrellos.