Photo courtesy cuse.com
"It was a really good first night for us," head coach Jim Boeheim told reporters following the game
It was the first night of a season that has Syracuse dealing with NCAA sanctions and still awaiting the outcome of its appeal and that of Boeheim's nine-game ACC suspension. With Rakeem Christmas graduated, leadership roles fall on Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney, while DaJuan Coleman looks to replace Christmas in the middle.
Gbinije shoots, leads barrage of threes
While senior guard Cooney took only six shots and missed all three of his 3-pointers, it was bombs away for other SU players, especially in the first half.
"I think in the first half we took too many threes," Boeheim said. "We don't want to take 21 in a half, we want to take 12-15."
Leading all scorers was 6'7" forward Gbinije, who started 23 of the 29 games for the Orange a season ago.
On Monday night, he tallied 21 points on 7-of-13 from the field (5-of-10 from three-point range), dished out four assists, corralled three rebounds and had two steals in 33 minutes of action.
His athleticism and ability to get out in transition was a major reason the Orange was so effective in this game. He was a match-up nightmare for the opposition and contributed to the 23 points his team scored via the fast break.
“It felt good," Gbinije said. "I felt comfortable, and just wanted to make plays whenever I had the opportunity.”
Coleman returns
DaJuan Coleman, fresh off missing last season in it's entirety following knee surgery, had a solid performance in his first real action in about two years. He scored 15 points on 7-of-9 from the field and was extremely active on the glass with seven boards (four coming on the offensive end).
Freshman guard Malachi Richardson added 13 points (3-8 from three), Kaleb Joseph had 11 (2-5 from three) and freshman Frank Howard scored ten (1-3 from three.) Cooney wound up with eight points as did Tyler Roberson.
Cooney said he was impressed with the freshmen. “I thought they were great. Malachi, Frank and (Tyler) Lydon all came in and helped us with great energy and defense and they were all great.”
Solid game for Lemoyne's Lovell, others struggle
Qwadere Lovell led the Dolphins in scoring with 16 points to go along with his six rebounds and seven assists.
But, it was a struggle for the Dolphins the entire night. The Syracuse defense proved to be too much for them to handle, as they shot just 35.7 percent from the field and turned the ball over 21 times, which led directly to 36 points for the Orange.
On the other end, the defense couldn't offer any type of resistance. The Orange shot 50 percent from the field and had 35 made field goals on 22 assists with only nine turnovers.
Dolphins compete early
The Dolphins did stay with Syracuse in the early part of the game. At the half, LeMoyne trailed by just 10.
But then the Orange asserted itself on both ends and managed to outscore the Dolphins by 29 the rest of the way. Syracuse scored 53 points in the second half -- LeMoyne scored 58 the entire game.
“I thought we played a very good first half," LeMoyne head coach Patrick Beilein said. "We made shots and in the second half, Coach Boeheim made great adjustments. They started driving the ball ahead a little bit, especially with Cooney and we just couldn’t stay in front."
Syracuse scored 42 of its 97 points in the paint and capitalized on second chance opportunities with 25 points.
Next
Now, Syracuse will welcome Florida Southern to the Carrier Dome on Sunday afternoon for another exhibition game. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
LeMoyne will travel to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines on Friday night. It'll be a battle between father and son, with Dolphins rookie head coach Patrick Beilein taking on his dad John.
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