Jerami Grant said he wasn't especially excited for his first start of the season but ha made the most of it. After DaJuan Coleman was ruled out with a leg injury prior to Syracuse's game with Eastern Michigan University, Grant got the call and came out on fire hitting his first five shots and scoring 12 first half points in a 70-48 win.
"It was whatever," Grant said with a grin about getting the start. "I honestly wasn't extremely excited like you probably think but, it was good for us."
#2 Syracuse (13-0) closed out the non-conference portion of the schedule and the 2013 year with a 22 point blow-out at home against the Eastern Michigan Eagles (7-5) Tuesday afternoon.
Rakeem Christmas had his best offensive performance wearing orange with a career high 15 points (three rebounds, two blocks), Trevor Cooney scored ten ( 2-5 on threes, two steals) and CJ Fair had 13 (eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks).
The Eagles, coached by former SU assistant Rob Murphy, struggled to get anything going against Syracuse's long, active zone throughout the game. They combined to shoot 17-54 from the field (3percent) and 7-28 from three (25percent. Glenn Bryant was the games leading scorer with 19 points on 8-11 shooting (eight rebounds). Ray Lee added 12 (4-5 on threes) as the only Eastern Michigan players to score in double figures.
"They have a lot of size, great athleticism," Murphy said. "Their playing at a high level right now. To me Tyler Ennis has been key, unbelievable at getting guys involved, understanding when to score, how to score."
To Murphy's point, Ennis didn't do anything in the scoring column (zero points, 0-4) but, didn't need to, setting the table early and often for the Orange. He had six first half assists including a beautiful behind the back pass to hit a streaking Grant on a fast-break. He finished the game with nine assists, five rebounds and three steals.
"You can not score and be a very productive, good player," Boeheim said. "I'm not concerned about his scoring, he doesn't score a lot against zones. He gets in the lane and makes plays."
Starting the season 12-0 the lone area one could nit-pick the Orange on would be their slow starts, perfectly embodied by the 18 point deficit Syracuse found itself in early Saturday against Villanova. Grant wasn't going to wait in game 13; he got the New Years Eve party started early for Syracuse. After playing the sixth man role in the first 12 games, Grant injected instant energy to the starting lineup scoring nine points in the first five minutes, most by way of a tough inside game, fighting for position and rebounds. He finished the game with 15 points (5-7 from field) and eight boards.
"Jerami Grant won the game in the first five minutes of the game," Boeheim said. "He got into the lane and made some really good ball movement."
Most of the second half the Orange did what a top ranked and favored team should do: played solid defense, ran the offense to get good looks and routinely used size and athleticism to overpower the opponent, represented by the 40-18 beating SU gave the Eagles on points in the paint.
"We just wanted to come out and be aggressive," Grant said. "We're feeling good, we played a lot of tough opponents already. Going into the ACC we know its going to be tough but I feel like we're ready for it."
Next up: #2 Syracuse (13-0) welcomes the University of Miami (8-5) to the Dome Saturday 4th at 2:00pm for its first game of ACC play
Game Notes:
- The win extended Syracuse's home non-conference winning streak to 51 games.
- Syracuse is one of seven unbeaten teams in Division I
Syracuse had 10 steals, essentially tying its ACC leading average (10.1) a complete two steals over second place Florida State (8.1) on that list
- DaJuan Coleman is going through "treatments" (per Jim Boeheim) and will be assessed day-to-day
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