Jim Boeheim said his Syracuse team could take plenty from the 52-point rout of Monmouth last Saturday. There are “little things” his players still need to fix despite an unbeaten start.

“There’s always mistakes,” Boeheim said. “If you make 15 turnovers, there’s 15 teaching moments. Simple as that.

“But overall I thought the passing was really good. Defense was good, made some steals, got some transition things going.”

Syracuse (8-0) will look to continue to fine-tune its game when it welcomes Canisius (6-1) to the Carrier Dome on Saturday at 7 p.m. The No. 4 Orange has cruised to an undefeated start against inferior competition, showing few weaknesses along the way thus far. But even in blowouts – like SU’s last three games in which it won by at least 31 points – Boeheim and his players have picked out flaws in their play that will hurt the team down the road.

After an 84-48 victory over Eastern Michigan, Boeheim saw the same teaching points for his players. The Orange turned the ball over 18 times that night and allowed the Eagles to stay in the game as a result.

Syracuse guards Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche combined for 10 turnovers against EMU. Five days later, the pair committed just three while dishing out 24 assists in the 108-56 win over Monmouth.

Boeheim’s message after each game of nearly flawless play against inferior opponents has gotten through to his players

“We just want to come out and play hard,” SU guard Trevor Cooney said. “I know coming off the bench for me, I don’t care who we’re playing, I’m not going to come out and give up or anything like that.”

Carter-Williams echoed that focus displayed by him and his teammates through eight games after the Monmouth win. Nearly 10 minutes into the game, the Orange and the Hawks were tied 19-19.

The sluggish start saw turnovers affect the team’s ability to get rolling on offense.

The worst came on an attempt by Carter-Williams to hit Jerami Grant. The point guard’s pass soared well above Grant’s head, with no chance for the 6-foot-8 forward to corral it. It prompted Boeheim to put his heads to his head while Carter-Williams dropped his hands to his feet after the puzzling play.

Carter-Williams said the ability of the team to overcome early struggles will make a difference when the schedule gets tougher.

“We always need to stay together no matter if we’re winning by a lot or if we’re down because in the beginning we was down until we went on a big run,” Carter-Williams said. “And I think just going through the little hard time and then coming together as a team and going on a big run is good and we’re going to need that.”

The slow start also saw Monmouth break through SU’s full-court press – another area Boeheim called attention to after the game.

The Hawks zipped passes to the middle of the zone before traps could come, leading to transition opportunities before the Orange could settle into its 2-3 zone. Monmouth’s Khalil Brown finished an alley-oop on the break and followed it with a jumper in transition to give Monmouth a lead six minutes into the game.

“We were not playing our game in the beginning,” Cooney said. “We were letting them just do whatever they wanted both ends of the floor and we didn’t take control of the game.”

A 16-2 Syracuse run broke the early tie, gave it control and set the foundation for the blowout win.

By game’s end, seven different Orange players scored in double figures. Carter-Williams recorded a season-high 16 assists, the third-highest single-game total in program history. Coleman turned in his first double-double and Cooney knocked down a career-high five 3s for 15 points.

The little things SU needed to fix were overshadowed in another dominant performance at the Carrier Dome. And the team is simply looking to match those performances as it continues to prepare for conference play in January.

“We’re playing real good right now,” Coleman said. “And we just want to keep it up so we just continue to get better in practice and moving on to the next game.”

Published on December 15, 2012 at 1:08 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu