Oliver Purnell left impressed. Like so many of the other head coaches who have challenged and failed to defeat still-perfect Syracuse, the DePaul head coach had nothing but praise for the Orange.

‘No question about it. They’ve met all challenges and they’ve only been in a couple of close games because of their superior play,’ Purnell told reporters after the game. ‘And again, a big part of it is they’re as good defensively as any Syracuse team I’ve seen defensively.’

He was astonished because of SU’s defense, which produced yet another strong performance against the Blue Demons on Sunday. Syracuse forced 18 turnovers, got out in transition, and rapidly turned defense into offense in gaining a 19-point halftime lead and an 87-68 victory. The No. 1 Orange (15-0, 2-0 Big East) continues to lead the nation in steals per game, and enters its next matchup at Providence (11-4, 0-2) looking to continue its sound play defensively.

Syracuse plays the Friars Wednesday at 9 p.m. in Providence, R.I., the only matchup left in between SU’s first game against a ranked Big East team. Syracuse hopes to remain undefeated for its marquee matchup on Saturday against No. 20 Marquette.

Still, SU head coach Jim Boeheim said after the Orange’s win over DePaul that every team in the Big East can be a tough game. The Blue Demons and Friars were picked to finish last and second-to-last in the conference this preseason, respectively.

‘The teams at the top are certainly as strong and I think the teams in the middle are still good,’ Boeheim said to reporters after the DePaul game. ‘I think the teams at the bottom are still capable. I think all these teams are very capable of beating you if you don’t come out to play and play well.’

That’s already been evident in the early stages of conference play. The Orange defeated Seton Hall by 26 last week, but the Pirates have since beaten West Virginia and No. 8 Connecticut by double digits. Pittsburgh dropped out of the Top 25 after opening its Big East slate with back-to-back losses.

SU and Georgetown (12-1, 2-0) are the only teams in the conference without multiple losses overall.

Two games into Big East play — and the SHU win looks better by the day — and Syracuse has shown no signs of faltering.

‘This is what we look forward to,’ SU forward Kris Joseph said to reporters after the DePaul game. ‘This is the Big East conference, this is what we came here to do. We’re all mentally focused and we’re physically ready for all these games.’

One of the biggest keys for Syracuse’s success so far has been scoring points off turnovers and limiting the points off turnovers allowed. SU is scoring 24.3 points per game off turnovers and allowing just 8.3 points per game. Those are both the best numbers the Orange has had in those categories in the last five years.

Syracuse has constantly fed off of forcing miscues to get easy offense. SU shot 65.5 percent in the first half against DePaul. Purnell said it was the Orange’s ability to get down the court faster, scoring easy baskets against the Blue Demons press or before DePaul could retreat.

‘They shot too many layups,’ Purnell said. ‘They shot 65 percent in the first half because they shot so many layups or stick-backs, and then in the second half every time we were trying to make a move it was much the same. It was turnovers that led to a layup.’

SU should be licking its chops for Providence, one of the five Big East teams with a negative turnover differential. Vincent Council leads the Friars in both scoring (16.1 points per game) and assists (6.6 per game), but beyond him, no Providence player averages even three assists per game.

Ball handling hasn’t been a strong suit in Big East play so far for the Friars. They turned the ball over 33 times total in losses to St. John’s and Georgetown.

Now they face the best team at taking the ball away in the nation.

Said Purnell: ‘They get their hands on balls and it just kind of makes you play under direst, in a different way all the time.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

 

Published on January 3, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr