Syracuse Orange Squeezes Wagner in the Dome

Syracuse moved to 2-0 on the season after dispatching of Wagner 88-57. The school has now won eight straight home openers and will begin preparations for Princeton on Wednesday. There was a lot to take from this game so let’s take a look:

1) The team shot 50% from the field.  Syracuse comes at you in waves and while they won’t shoot this well often, it’s still nice to know that they have it in them.  Baye Keita went 6-6 and his development will be important. Keita has never been counted on for a ton of offense as he’s a rebounder and a defensive presence.

2) The rebounding battle went the way of the Orange 49-36, but as we’ve pointed out they are still giving up too many offensive rebounds. Wagner had 13 and while they shot almost 33% from the field, someone else is going to make Syracuse pay more.

3) DaJuan Coleman had five turnovers.  Coleman played 19 minutes scoring three points, while adding seven rebounds.  Coleman needs to play better if he’s going to get more time.  Yes, he is a freshman and there are going to be growing pains, but he’s got to take of the ball better then he did today.

4) While we are at it with turnovers, 18 as a team is way too many.  Syracuse cannot afford to give teams too many easy baskets.  The zone doesn’t get a chance to set up on fastbreaks so with better ball control there will be less of those.

5) Depth was evident as nine guys got the bulk of the minutes.  James Southerland being hot from the field got him more time as he went 6-9.  It says something when the team scores 88 points and has only three players in double digits.

Verdict: All in all, a complete win by the Orange.  When you have to nit pick to find negatives, it’s not a bad thing.  Syracuse should keep the momentum going against Princeton Wednesday.