Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim called his team’s rebounding performance a “disaster” following SU’s game against Georgetown this week, where the Hoyas posted a 48-30 advantage.
The Orange gave much better effort on the glass on Saturday in a 85-67 win over Connecticut as Syracuse had a 31-29 advantage of the boards.
Did this live up to Boeheim’s standards?
» What did you think of Syracuse’s play today? Discuss.
» Syracuse uses 18-1 run to defeat Huskies
“Marginally,” Boeheim said. “We didn’t get killed, let’s put it that way.”
Despite his answer, Boeheim had to be happy with his team outrebounding the Huskies, who came in 36th in the nation 38.3 per game. Comparatively, SU averages 35.8 rebounds, 114th nationally.
CJ Fair led the way with 12 rebounds, 11 on the defensive end, to go with 14 points.
“(We focused on) positioning yourself and going to get it,” Fair said. “Sometimes it’s just about securing the rebound.”
“(Fair is) a pretty good rebounder overall,” Boeheim said. “Sometimes it’s where your positioned when the ball comes. It seemed more balls came his way. It just went toward him more tonight.”
SU also got a decent rebounding performance from its backcourt, as Scoop Jardine and Dion Waiters combined for five rebounds.
“The guards helped us a lot more,” forward Kris Joseph said. “It was more of a collective effort. We can’t keep getting outrebounded by such a large amount so we definitely dialed in and located the ball a little better.”
Fab Melo and Baye Keita also accounted for six rebounds.
“We worked on the last practice,” Melo said. “We were focused on getting rebounds, and that’s what we did.”
