Eight different players made Syracuse’s first eight field goals in its season-opening win against Fordham. Scoop Jardine pulled up for 3 from the right wing on SU’s first possession, and by the time C.J. Fair hit a 3 from the right side as well, four starters and four bench players each made one field goal.

‘I think it’s a great thing, but a lot of people say we don’t have one great player,’ guard Brandon Triche said. ‘But I think the biggest thing is that we have six or seven guys who can score the ball and can put the ball in the hole and can carry this team.

‘And so it’s going to be so much harder for a defense to stop all seven of us.’

James Southerland became the first player to make two field goals for SU on Saturday when his 3-pointer with 6:26 left in the first half put the Orange up 24-10. In all, 11 players scored and only two reached double-digits for No. 5 Syracuse (1-0) against the Rams. Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters showed flashes of their ability to take over a game, but the SU offense remained balanced.

That’s something that likely will remain a trend for SU as it takes on Manhattan (1-0) at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome on Monday, in the second of two games in the Carrier Dome as part of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Albany (0-1) and Brown (1-0) play at 4 p.m., and the winners and losers play each other on Tuesday.

The team that comes out of the two-day regional tournament as the winner advances to the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Nov. 23.

Syracuse’s balanced scoring was something head coach Jim Boeheim forecasted back on Oct. 14 at SU’s media day.

‘If you have more than one guy who can score and be a go-to guy, that’s important, and I think that’s what we have,’ Boeheim said on media day. ‘I think we have had that last year, and we have had that in other teams. Even when Carmelo (Anthony) was here, Gerry (McNamara) made as many big shots as Carmelo did.’

In the first half against Fordham, the offense was wholly balanced. SU was able to move the ball around the Rams defense, eventually finding a player in position to drive or shoot.

On one possession early in the first half, Syracuse passed the ball around the arc until Fab Melo came up and set a pick for Michael Carter-Williams. The freshman guard drove toward the basket, attracted the defense and dished to Melo, who made a nice adjustment against a defender at the hoop for the finish to put Syracuse up 14-8.

Two possessions later, Carter-Williams fed Melo on the low block. He didn’t have much leverage toward the hoop, but he made a nice feed to Southerland for a jumper at the left elbow.

At halftime, four players — Joseph, Jardine, Triche and Southerland — tied for the team lead with five points.

‘It’s a good way to start off the season,’ Joseph said. ‘I think that everyone contributed well today. We got a great bench contribution in my mind.’

Like Triche said, some of the criticism about this year’s Syracuse team is that the Orange has no go-to scorer who can take over when his team needs it every time.

But the breadth of players who can take over for spurts of time on SU is there. Triche said having so many playmakers increases the intensity of practice.

The tougher practices may propel the maturation process for some of the Orange’s younger players. Waiters, a sophomore, played very well off the bench in both of SU’s exhibition games and against Fordham.

‘If we’re able to bring it, as far as our experienced guys, bring it, and make the younger guys mature up,’ Triche said, ‘it’s going to be much easier to score the ball, and it’s going to be a great thing for us.’

Though some players showed the ability to score at will, no one took over the game against the Rams. Different players dominated different spurts.

And with two games in two days this week putting a strain on the players’ energy, it can be an advantage for SU against Manhattan and Albany or Brown.

‘I think we’re going to be balanced,’ Boeheim said. ‘I think we got a lot of guys that can score, and I think that if the minutes stay the way they are right now, I think that balance will be there.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

 

Published on November 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr