Note to our readers: In an effort to cut costs during a non-print publication period, The Daily Orange Board of Directors voted after much deliberation to cut travel expenses to the DePaul game. The decision was based on the paper’s tight budget and made in order to ensure costs for later sports travel could be met. The Daily Orange continues its pledge of providing objective and original coverage of Syracuse athletics.

In Syracuse’s last game, Kris Joseph was held scoreless for the first time since his freshman year. But on Sunday, he made sure that wouldn’t happen again, scoring early and often.

The senior forward scored in a multitude of ways. When Syracuse broke the DePaul press — as it often did in the first half — Joseph knocked down a wide-open 3 to put the Orange up by seven midway through the first half. He finished a fast break off a defensive rebound by slamming home a pass from Brandon Triche.

And he had success driving to the hoop, as well. Joseph’s 22 points and seven rebounds were indicative of the dominant performance by the Orange. Syracuse was on point from the field, shooting 19-of-29 (65.5 percent) in building a 19-point halftime lead. The No. 1 Orange (15-0, 2-0 Big East) cruised from there to an 87-68 victory over the Blue Demons (9-4, 0-1) on Sunday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. The Orange fell behind in the opening minutes as DePaul jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but went on a 15-2 run to gain a cushion and never trailed again.

SU snapped DePaul’s five-game win streak and blew out a Big East opponent for the second straight game.

‘I think the first half we did a good job against their defense, their pressure,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said in his postgame press conference, obtained via email from an SU athletics official. ‘… Our defense was really good in the first half and that was the game. The second half was just trading baskets.’

Five players were in double figures for SU, who shot 58.6 percent from the field for the game. Joseph led the way with 22 points, but C.J. Fair had a season-high 16 points, Dion Waiters added 13, Fab Melo scored 12 — along with six blocks — and Brandon Triche had 10.

Syracuse got a major contribution from Joseph, who failed to score a point in SU’s 75-49 win over Seton Hall on Wednesday. He made it look much easier against the Blue Demons, who used a full-court pressure defense for most of the game to try and slow down SU. At times, it worked, evidenced by SU’s 12 first-half turnovers.

But many times it backfired, leading to easy baskets for the Orange.

Scoop Jardine, Waiters and Triche were forced into some tough passes as the Blue Demons defense tried trapping them in the backcourt. But most of the time, they got the ball out.

Early in the game, Joseph received a pass as SU broke out of the press and drove to the hoop for a layup. He missed the attempt but made his own follow to give SU its first lead, 9-7. Later, Jardine threw a long pass upcourt out of the press, and James Southerland finished inside, putting SU up 29-18.

‘We got a lot of layups,’ Boeheim said. ‘Whenever you get pressed, they’re going to get some steals. They’re gambling. You’re going to make a couple mistakes. … I thought overall, we handled it well. We made a couple bad turnovers but that happens.’

Syracuse got plenty of points in transition as it built its lead, many of them also coming off defensive rebounds. SU has struggled at times this season to end possessions on the defensive boards, but a strong effort rebounding allowed the Orange to get out and run.

Joseph got his points quietly, accumulating them across the first half as SU built a large lead. The Orange broke the press again about 10 minutes into the first half, getting Joseph a wide-open look on the left wing, and he hit a 3 to put the Orange up 22-15.

The rest of the team joined him in a scorching-hot first half for SU shooting-wise. Syracuse led 45-26 at the break.

In the second half it was much of the same. The Orange and Blue Demons traded baskets for much of the final 20 minutes, and the lead didn’t really fluctuate.

DePaul forward Cleveland Melvin managed to get his points, finishing with 23 and eight rebounds, but the Blue Demons’ second-leading scorer, Brandon Young, failed to make a shot. He came in averaging 16.1 points per game, but shot 0-of-8 from the field.

The Orange extended its lead to as large as 28 in the second half, easily defeating the team picked this preseason to finish last in the Big East.

‘We haven’t played the hard teams that we have to play,’ Boeheim said. ‘We haven’t proven anything yet. We’ve beaten people that we probably should have.’

mcooperj@syr.edu 

Published on January 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr