Men's Basketball

3 causes for concern: After narrow victory, Syracuse’s shortcomings become apparent

Heart problems

Jim Boeheim spent the majority of the first half during Syracuse’s win against St. Francis (N.Y.) on Monday alternating the focus of his ire between two defensively inept centers — DaJuan Coleman and Rakeem Christmas.

A slew of smaller, quicker Terriers forward abused the heart of the Orange zone throughout the opening 20 minutes. They exposed a weakness unseen in the Orange’s first three games, but confirmed by Boeheim’s repeated furious reactions and direct postgame comments.

“I don’t think we handled it well,” Boeheim said.

The SU head coach knows other teams will try similar attacks, and with tougher, faster Atlantic Coast Conference opponents ahead that should worry Syracuse fans. Of course the near catastrophe gives the Orange a chance to address its problem early. How it does could have a profound effect on the team’s success this season.



“There’s no question when a team decides to go inside, which now I’m sure people are going to, we have to be better,” Boeheim said.

In the second half on Monday, Boeheim limited Coleman’s minutes to just five despite the sophomore dropping a career-high 14 points. That’s how slow his feet were.

Christmas’ more apparent problem was his lack of physicality. Six-foot-6 St. Francis forwards Jalen Cannon and Wayne Martin bullied the 6-foot-9, 250-pound junior throughout the contest.

With both on the bench for most of the second stanza, Baye Moussa Keita proved again that he is the Orange’s best defensive center. He made a key block and knocked down two free throws to help spark SU’s 10-0 game-closing run.

But fouling out in just 12 minutes of playing time doesn’t exactly prove him a viable solution to the problem.

That solution is left to be seen.

—Stephen Bailey

Point of concern

Tyler Ennis fooled us all. His calm, cool demeanor and spectacular preseason passes left us wide eyed and without worry. He wasn’t a freshman. He was a starting point guard. He’d command this Syracuse offense without a hitch.

Even head coach Jim Boeheim was impressed and as surprised as the rest of us when his slow start left the Orange with questions at point guard.

“He’s trying to do some things there when he should just make the pass,” Boeheim said after Monday’s 56-50 win over St. Francis (N.Y.). “But he got to the basket and made a big drive for us.”

Through four games, Ennis has struggled to score consistently and find defenders with the ease he did during the preseason. The jump from Division II and Canadian competition to Division I-level talent has shocked him a little bit. He is no longer playing in the seemingly effortless manner he was before the year started. Now he’s playing like a freshman.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. He is, of course, a freshman and is doing things most people would expect a freshman to do. He’s taking some bad shots and making some ill-advised passes. But he wasn’t supposed to do that for this SU team. He was supposed to be the in-control floor general that would make sure Syracuse could score.

“He will make better decisions, he will see it,” Boeheim said. “We’ll try to show him some things and I think he’ll get better.”

He’s still a fine point guard, but the Orange needs him to excel for 38 minutes per game. And by the end of the year maybe he will. But for now he’s a wild card. Some days he’ll be great and on others he’ll struggle, which SU can’t have out of its only true point guard.

—David Wilson

Benchwarmers

Two years ago, Syracuse had a ridiculous amount of depth. Michael Carter-Williams, Dion Waiters, James Southerland, C.J. Fair and Baye Moussa Keita comprised one of the better benches in recent memory. But this year, Syracuse’s bench isn’t quite as talented.

Now Trevor Cooney, who was a reserve last season, is starting. Besides Jerami Grant, the Orange doesn’t have any proven, ultra-talented offensive players off the bench. Grant is the main cog. He’s been inconsistent so far this year, but has stepped up in the crunch time and improved his mid-range jumper.

“He can make that 15-footer,” Jim Boeheim said following Syracuse’s win over St. Francis, “and when he starts making that he’s going to be difficult to guard.”

After Grant, Michael Gbinije is SU’s best player off the bench. Gbinije has looked smooth at times. He hit the eventual game-winning layup against St. Francis, scored 11 points against Colgate and dropped five dimes versus Cornell.

But Gbinije is still getting acclimated to playing point guard. He combined for eight turnovers in Syracuse’s two preseason games. He barely saw any time his freshman season at Duke and sat out last season as a transfer. Now in addition to playing on the wing, he’s getting used to a new role as a backup point guard.

“It’s difficult, but I really accept the challenge,” Gbinije said in the preseason. “It’s kind of fun being able to touch the ball every play.”

After Gbinije is Keita, who’s a reliable defender, but is averaging only 2.5 points per game. Keita has to play somewhat substantial minutes out of necessity because of Rakeem Christmas’ offensive ineptitude and DaJuan Coleman’s defensive struggles.

From there, B.J. Johnson, Ron Patterson and Tyler Roberson are all talented freshmen, but none are experienced. They didn’t see a second of playing time against St. Francis and likely won’t see much going forward.

That leaves Syracuse’s rotation at eight men deep, and the three coming off the bench are less talented than SU’s bench players have been in the past.

—Trevor Hass





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