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Chris Bell simply needed to mentally build a few things within himself to get to the point he was at on Tuesday night. He said after his career night against Notre Dame that he was “very confident” in his shot. It felt good for him to know his shot worked, and it was the fifth time Bell had finished a game in double figures. But the aggressiveness, the confidence to crash a board, follow a shot or sprint back on defense with a clear plan on the court, that wasn’t there yet. Then Tuesday night, a 40-minute, heartbreaking loss for Syracuse happened, and Bell came out of his shell.

The Bell that head coach Jim Boeheim wanted, the one he basically pleaded for at points in postgame press conferences, came out. In the matter of five possessions late in the second half, Bell capped off a game that might not be seen as “career-day” worthy, but one Bell needed. First, Bell floated toward the rim following a clearly-short shot from Caleb Love at the top of the key. He couldn’t get there in time to help out Jesse Edwards, who lost the rebound to Leaky Black. North Carolina’s forward then willed up three straight layup attempts over Edwards, who couldn’t manage to halt the shooting barrage with a rebound.

Usually, Bell would go back out and defend his man who sat tucked behind the left corner of the 3-point arc. Bell’s showed on the court that he wants to be outside, streak down in transition and be a catch-and-shoot forward rather than a rebounding one. But this time, Bell stood pat and patiently waited for an opening. It finally came following Black’s fourth consecutive missed layup, at which time Bell pounced and finally grabbed a loose rebound, muscling it away from Black.

“It’s just being consistent, looking forward instead of just trying to run back on offense,” Bell said. “Just believing in myself that I can go into battle with those guys who are 6-foot-10, 6-foot-11.”

Bell is used to playing outside, especially coming from Concord (California) High School where he was more of an outside shooting forward than a rebounding one. He and Benny Williams have struggled throughout this season while taking over a more interior role with the Orange. There have been career milestones set throughout his freshman campaign — 17 points against Notre Dame, 13 points and five rebounds against Cornell — but nothing compared to the physical, aggressive game that Bell played against the Tar Heels. Though Syracuse (13-8, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) ultimately lost 72-68 to North Carolina (15-6, 7-3 ACC), Bell demonstrated that he is developing well and can become a permanent starter for the Orange.

Four possessions later, Syracuse stood five points behind the Tar Heels after a 3-pointer from Joe Girard III and were looking to once again bring the deficit to as few as two points. Judah Mintz strolled up the court and looked around for the right scoring opportunity. He stutter-stepped into the right side of the free throw line and found Bell deep in the corner behind the 3-point line. Bell was pushed into the corner by Love, nearly leaning over the Syracuse bench as he grabbed the pass from Mintz.

Why would Mintz find Bell on the outside, pinned with no clear room to work?

“Chris is an unbelievable shooter,” North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis said. “If you give him any kind of space, he can score. He can score off the bounce, he can score, catch-and-shoot.”

Bell grabbed the pass, pump-faked Love and gave himself plenty of room to shoot over his defender that he had three inches on, bringing Syracuse’s deficit down to just two points. Bell has found his shot, and now that he is able to cut toward the basket and build his confidence up when crashing the paint, he can effectively utilize more moves on his defenders. Bell flew around the court on Tuesday night with the confidence and moxy of an upperclassman that he hadn’t had during his 20 games with the Orange. Even when he wasn’t successful, like after a missed 3 late in the first half, Bell still sprinted as soon as he let go of his shot toward the hoop.

He tried to get a hand on it, but Edwards ended up poking the ball out of bounds. Bell still scored, adding 15 points for the Orange, but created chances for other players and extended possessions by crashing the boards. While Williams sat on the outer arc, Bell was trying to muscle loose balls away from Pete Nance and Armando Bacot, ending the evening with four rebounds. That he had the game he had — 15 points and four rebounds — against a North Carolina team that is led by Bacot and has the dynamic play of Nance shows this performance from Bell will likely be replicated.

“Chris definitely gave us a spark today as a unit,” Maliq Brown said. “He works on his game before workouts and stuff, so just seeing that play style tonight, it was good to see that.”

Bell said he has been working with assistant coach Adrian Autry on rebounding and box out drills in practice to help him build his confidence. He’s been trying to translate it into game action, but said that each game at the collegiate level is helping him slowly become the player he wants to be, one sitting around double-digit points that crashes the boards, gets back quickly on defense and has around five or six rebounds. He knows there’s room to grow; it is still his first year, and he’s starting in the ACC. Bell has demonstrated, however, that while inconsistent currently, his play against teams like Notre Dame and North Carolina will likely translate down the line to more dominating, aggressive performances.

Once again, late in the second half, Nance missed a 3-point attempt trying to break the stalemate and grab the lead back from a Syracuse team that swung all the momentum its way. It was a quick shot, so Bell was still outside, and because Mintz had followed his man into the paint, he quickly grabbed the rebound off of the ground and looked up to see if there was a fast break chance. Luckily, Bell had begun sprinting up court when the shot missed. Gone were the days of him hanging around in the back court and jogging back on offense. Gone were the days of him passively watching the game on the court. He was finally confident. He was the game.

He flew up court so quickly that by the time Mintz chucked the ball up to him, Bell was all alone and easily slammed down a dunk on the fast break play to tie up the game uncontested.

“Honestly, I don’t really think that we did a real good job on him,” Davis said.

Published on January 25, 2023 at 1:49 am

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt