A quick take on Syracuse’s 87-68 win against DePaul:
WHAT HAPPENED: DePaul played Syracuse tight for the first five minutes before SU used a 8-0 run to grab a 17-9 lead with 12:55 left in the first half. Another 8-0 run at the end of the half gave the Orange with a 45-24 lead with 1:08 left, and Syracuse never was challenged from there. Syracuse built the lead with torrid shooting from the field and with its typical stellar defense. The Orange shot a balmy 59.6 percent from the field while its defense forced 17 turnovers on nine steals and eight blocks.
ANALYSIS: Syracuse had no problems dispatching DePaul, which had come into the game on a five-game winning streak. But with due respect to the Blue Demons, it’s hard to take anything out of this game. The Orange is head and shoulders more talented than DePaul and the large margin was expected. The lopsided win allowed Boeheim to give more playing time to freshmen Michael Carter-Williams and Rakeem Christmas. Still, Christmas struggled throughout the night and fouled out after playing only 10 minutes.
HERO: Kris Joseph finished with 22 points and eight rebounds to lead five different Orange in double figures. Cleveland Malvin scored 23 points to lead the Blue Demons.
ZERO: Brandon Young, who came into the game averaging more than 17 points a game, went 0-for-9 from the field and had no points.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Orange will try to keep its perfect record intact when it travels to Providence, RI to play the Friars on Wed, Jan 4. at 9:00 p.m. TV: BIG EAST Network/SNY.
