Syracuse, N.Y-
The No.23 Syracuse men’s basketball team smashed Kennesaw State, 89-42, in the regular season opener, Friday night in front of an announced crowd of 22,833 at the Carrier Dome.
Senior center Rakeem Christmas finished with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-7 at the line. Seventeen of his 21 points came in the second half. Christmas made all six shots in the period. He also grabbed nine rebounds, including a team-high six offensive rebounds.
The gave him an ovation when he was subbed out with 2:35 left in the game.
“It was a good game for us.” Christmas said. “Everyone was playing together. Everything was clicking. We turned it up in the second half. That is what we have to do every game.”
Coming off the bench, B.J. Johnson made all five of his two-point jumpers and shot 2-of-6 from behind the arc. He had 19 points and four assists.
“B.J played great,” Christmas said. “He came out firing. He does it in practice a lot of times. It’s great to see him do it in the game.”
Three other Orange men finished in double figures. Five-star freshman forward Chris McCullough had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Trevor Cooney, recovering from his 4-of-19 shooting in the two previous exhibition games, went 5-of-7 from the floor and had 12 points. Forward Tyler Roberson added 10 points.
The Orange players shot poorly in the first half, making 15-of-43 (34.9 percent) and missed all five three-point attempts. However, they outscored the Owls by 20 points, 36-16.
Defense and rebounding were the key factors. The Orange had 32 rebounds in the first half, including 15 offensive rebounds. SU had a 16-0 run in a six-minute-eleven-second span. The owls had 24 shots in the first half and made only six of them. They shoot 1-of-9 from behind the arc.
Defense and rebounding were the key factors. The Orange had 32 rebounds in the first half, including 15 offensive rebounds. SU had a 16-0 run in a six-minute-eleven-second span. The owls had 24 shots in the first half and made only six of them. They shoot 1-of-9 from behind the arc.
Syracuse made its first six shots in the beginning of the second half and 21 of 32 field goal attempts and 4 of 10 three-point attempts in the period.
The Orange had 25 points off the Owls' 25 turnovers in the game. The Owls went 17-of-52 from the floor (32.7 percent) and 5-of-21 from behind the arc (23.8 percent) overall.
Kaleb Joseph, the freshman point guard who had two efficient exhibition games, only shot four times and made two for four points. While he dished out a team-high six assists in 23 minutes, he turned the ball over four times, two more than his last two games combined. One was a steal by the Owls' Yonel Brown who then made the layup, drew a foul on Joseph and made the free throw.
“I had four turnovers in the first half,” Joesph said. “I don’t think I turned it over in the second half. Overall I can’t really complain. We came away with a big win. I can never be upset about that.”
Head coach Jim Boeheim said it was normal for freshman point guard to make some mistakes.
"He will learn from it," Boeheim said.
Sophomore Ron Patterson made only two of nine field goal attempts and had five points.
Michael Gbinije, the junior guard who played considerable minutes in the previous exhibition games, was not in uniform for the game. Boeheim would not say why Gbinije was held out but he said he would be back for Sunday’s game.
"First game you were going to make some mistakes," Boeheim said of the game. "Hopefully we will learn from that and get back here Sunday."
"First game you were going to make some mistakes," Boeheim said of the game. "Hopefully we will learn from that and get back here Sunday."
Syracuse will host Hampton this Sunday. The game starts at 4 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment