On one half of the floor, DaJuan Coleman looked like the five-star recruit Syracuse signed up for when the big man arrived from nearby Jamesville-Dewitt High School.

He muscled his way through defensive rebounds, stretched his 6-foot-9 frame into the air for tip-ins and even put the ball on the floor to knife through the St. Francis defense.

For half of his 18 minutes, it made him the most valuable player on the floor.

But there are two parts of the game.

On defense, he was always a step slow. The Terriers’ littler big men darted around the heavy-footed Syracuse center for basket after basket.

“He scored four points in a row, they scored four points,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “We can’t have that. He’s got to be better down there.”

It’s why, despite leading the Orange (4-0) with 14 points, Coleman played just 18 minutes and Baye Moussa Keita played in crunch time during No. 9 SU’s 56-50 win over St. Francis (2-2) in front of 23,117 in the Carrier Dome on Monday. Even Rakeem Christmas, who had just three rebounds and only attempted one shot, played 22 minutes.

As a whole, the trio forms a quality all-around big man. Coleman provides the offense. Christmas brings athleticism. Keita is a quality defender. But individually, they’re stand-alone parts that leave Syracuse with rotational issues.

Coleman was the active presence on the boards who helped a struggling offense get out to an early lead. He tipped in a Trevor Cooney miss for the first bucket of the game and put the ball on the floor to lay in the Orange’s second.

He grabbed an offensive board on SU’s next possession and got fouled before sinking both at the line. Less than a minute later, he tipped in a Tyler Ennis miss to put Syracuse up 8-5. Coleman had all eight.

“My main focus was just getting the rebounds,” Coleman said. “Whenever somebody on the team shoots, just getting in the right spot to get the offensive rebound, and that’s what I did.”

But it meant defense dropped from his list of priorities. When Syracuse fell behind in the second half, Coleman was limited to just five minutes of action.

The 6-foot-6 Wayne Martin handled Coleman with ease. The forward finished with 13 points — nine in the first half — as he put his back against Coleman, dropped the ball to the floor and turned to the rim for a layup. Coleman couldn’t keep up with the quicker, shiftier frontcourt player.

“We weren’t getting the stops we needed inside,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “We’re all about defense first. DaJuan did a great job on the offensive end, but just was a little step slow on the defensive end.”

Coleman hit a pair of free throws to open the frame for the Orange after a 12-point first, but that would be all. This time, it was Keita’s turn.

But for most of the frame, he struggled just as much. The center fouled out in just 12 minutes of action, but when Syracuse needed stops, Keita was the most reliable option.

He stripped Martin in the post with 5:34 remaining and the Orange down two points. Then he grabbed an offensive rebound on the other end, drew a foul and knocked down the pair.

Less than two minutes later, though, he was done. “We want Coleman” chants surfaced from a pocket of the student section.

Instead it was Christmas, who played the most of any of the three centers. The junior didn’t get on the stat sheet during his last run until the game was decided — a block with 15 seconds remaining — but he was the man on the floor when SU closed it out.

Coleman could be optimistic about the way he looked on offense, but he knows his defense has a long way to go. He said he admired the way Keita fronted his low post combatants. It was something he couldn’t do effectively and can learn from.

Until then, though, SU has its question mark. Teams haven’t gone inside against Syracuse until Monday, and St. Francis nearly spurred a stunning November upset.

“When a team decides to go inside, which now I’m sure people are going to,” Boeheim said, “we have to be better.”

Published on November 19, 2013 at 3:15 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2