Syracuse’s players moved around the half court trying to find an opening in the Rutgers defense.

Fab Melo set a pick for Scoop Jardine. Jardine passed to C.J. Fair. The ball ended up back in Jardine’s hands, and a lackluster possession ended with a drive to the bucket and missed layup for the senior guard.

‘I think our defense has been pretty steady, but I thought offensively earlier in the year we were a bit better,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.

Too often recently, Syracuse has struggled to generate efficient possessions out of its half-court sets. It’s being picky, as the Orange has won seven straight, but Boeheim did say after Syracuse’s 74-64 win in Piscataway, N.J., Sunday that his team has not been at its best lately. Syracuse’s offensive performance in recent wins over Louisville, Georgetown and West Virginia has been saved by the team’s sensational defense.

No. 2 Syracuse (27-1, 14-1 Big East) will look for a complete performance Wednesday when it takes on South Florida (17-10, 10-4 Big East) at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. The Bulls are the surprise of the Big East this season and survive based on the top scoring defense in the conference. USF allows just 58.2 points per game.

The Orange hasn’t struggled offensively in every game, though. In wins over St. John’s and Connecticut this month, Syracuse has shot better than 50 percent. SU shot 50 percent (24-of-48) against Rutgers as well.

‘It’s who you’re playing and how the matchup is, and that’s important for us,’ Boeheim said. ‘Some teams don’t match up well at all with us, and there’s some teams we don’t match up as well with.’

Syracuse’s players have said their offense stems from defense. Getting stops leads to the Orange’s ability to run in the open court. All season long, SU has been able to put away teams with demoralizing runs, led largely in part by points in transition.

Against Rutgers, that wasn’t possible. Syracuse forced missed shot after missed shot, but Gilvydas Biruta and the Rutgers bigs swooped in pockets of SU’s zone for offensive rebounds.

Poor rebounding against Georgetown Feb. 8 nearly led to a Syracuse loss. The Hoyas grabbed 23 offensive rebounds and held a plus-17 margin on the boards against SU.

Syracuse scored just six fast-break points against Georgetown, partially due to its inability to finish defensive stops.

‘Looking down the road, it won’t always turn out that way if we rebound like we did tonight,’ Kris Joseph said after that game.

In addition to the rebounding woes halting the Orange’s up-tempo game, Boeheim said after Sunday’s game that Dion Waiters’ struggles have affected the offense.

Waiters scored in double digits in nine consecutive games from Dec. 22 to Jan. 21. But he has been held to less than 10 points in five of SU’s last seven games.

‘He really hasn’t been shooting the ball very well,’ Boeheim said. ‘I think he’s probably struggled the most. He was getting 15, 16, 17. He’s probably struggled the most coming down the last few games.’

Early in the first half against Rutgers, his shooting woes were evident. He received a pass from Jardine and tried to create a shot for himself on the right wing.

He was defended by the 6-foot-8 Biruta, and his shot from the right wing fell for an air ball.

‘Some days my shot’s going to fall and some days it’s not,’ Waiters said. ‘You’ve got to do the little things, if it’s getting others involved, penetrating, dishing to your teammates and just trying to make the big plays down in the end.’

Boeheim said Rutgers is a good defensive team. By the numbers, South Florida is, too, but the Bulls have yet to beat anyone of note. South Florida’s top win in the Big East is against Seton Hall. USF has only played three games against the conference’s top eight teams and dropped all of them by an average of 20.3 points per game.

This is a game that could determine if South Florida is a legitimate NCAA Tournament team. And it’s an opportunity for Syracuse’s offense to pick back up.

‘I think offensively we’re still doing some things that we need to do,’ Boeheim said, ‘but I think we’re still trying to get better.’

mcooperj@syr.edu 

Published on February 21, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr