Pearl singlehandedly lit up the vaunted Georgetown defense to put SU up four late, before the infamous Andre Hawkins-Michael Graham tussle in which an apparent punch was thrown by Graham.
While all of his other numbers have remained mostly the same, Lydon was looked at as a player to pick up the offensive slack for Trevor Cooney, Malachi Richardson and Michael Gbinije, departed stalwarts from last year’s Final Four team.
On a night when points were at an absolute premium, Syracuse gave up an 11-point second half lead, including permitting 14 straight points, en route to losing to Connecticut at Madison Square Garden in New York City, 52-50.