Jim Boeheim walked toward half court, threw both his hands in the air and then placed them on his head.

Ron Patterson’s contested baby hook missed from the short corner before Tyler Roberson gathered a rebound and missed an uncontested layup. Syracuse’s head coach glared as his team failed to turn offensive rebounds into points and should have put Kennesaw State out of the game eight minutes in.

But then point guard Kaleb Joseph charged forward with a loose ball, wiping away the Orange’s slow start with every stride and finishing his paint-to-paint trek with a one-handed pass to fellow freshman Chris McCullough.

McCullough finished the play with a two-handed dunk and No. 23 Syracuse (1-0) finished the first half on an 18-point run — a sharp turnaround that led the Orange to a season-opening 89-42 win over the Owls (0-1) in the first round of the 2K Sports Classic on Friday night. SU’s defense helped it shake a slow offensive start and turn the first half into a track meet Kennesaw State couldn’t win, and the second half belonged to Rakeem Christmas and his career-high 21 points.

“Defense is more important than offense,” SU forward B.J. Johnson said. “I think a lot of times, a lot of games the shots might not be falling, so our defense will make up for that.”

With junior forward Michael Gbinije sidelined for an undisclosed “team thing,” Boeheim called it, and DaJuan Coleman still working back from knee surgery, just eight active scholarship players treated the 22,833 fans in the Carrier Dome.

That led Boeheim to cycle Johnson, Patterson and center Chinonso Obokoh in and out, which kept his 2-3 zone fresh and pressed up against the Owls. The Orange continually worked the ball to Christmas, but his touch was off and he picked up two fouls before heading to the bench with 12:10 left in the first and SU leading, 9-7.

Joseph found McCullough on the break a possession later and the zone — with guards Patterson, Joseph and Trevor Cooney rotating up top and Obokoh in the middle — tightened.

The Owls tried desperately to create open shots by screening the Orange’s guards, but Syracuse was quick around picks and forced them into an inside-out game that was even less successful. On three straight possessions Kennesaw State entered the ball to forward Justin Diecker and Johnson, Obokoh and Roberson trapped him under the rim, and Diecker turned it over on three straight touches.

“We know when our 2-3 is good we’re going to score easy buckets and get out in transition,” Cooney said. “The last two exhibition games we didn’t really do that and tonight our movement on defense was way better.”

The defense helped the Orange’s lead balloon to 20 by halftime, and Christmas took it from there.

Whether it came from Joseph to start a possession or McCullough from the high post, Christmas grabbed each entry pass with his defender sealed and his back to the basket. Then he used small shoulder fakes from both blocks to create space and kiss baby hooks off the glass and through the rim.

Christmas scored eight straight points at the start of the second half. Seventeen of his 21 points came in the frame and he walked off the court to a standing ovation with 2:35 to play.

By that time, Syracuse was beating a team it was supposed to, how it was supposed to, and three walk-ons were on the court as the game clock ticked to an inevitable finish.

“We worked hard on defense to get the lead for the second half,” Christmas said. “Then Coach just wanted me to be more aggressive, so I went for it and did my best to close it out.”

Published on November 14, 2014 at 9:04 pm

Contact Jesse: [email protected] | @dougherty_jesse