Syracuse Basketball vs. Pittsburgh: 5 Takeaways

Dec 30, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Syracuse Orange forward Michael Gbinije (rear) and center DaJuan Coleman (32) fight for a loose ball with Pittsburgh Panthers forward Michael Young (R) during the first half at the Petersen Events Center. Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Dajuan Coleman Might Not be the Answer

The past couple games, Coleman finally looked like he was starting to turn the corner. He was more aggressive on offense, he was more involved on defense, and he kept himself out of foul trouble.

Cue the Pitt game, where he totally regressed back to the start of the season. He was indecisive, he turned the ball over, he missed easy shots, and he did nothing on the defensive end.

In his 17 minutes he managed a whopping 2 points, 1 rebound, and 5 personal fouls. That’s right, he fouled out of the game in just 17 minutes. And while I mentioned above that a couple of the calls against him were questionable, it’s still on him to know better than to put himself in those positions when he is in foul trouble.

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Aside from the fouls, what really disheartened me was his lack of polish on the offensive end. Several times he tried to post up in the low block, but looked like he had no clue how it even worked.

One of those times, he received the ball, tried to dribble it, almost lost it, then gathered and had himself an easy 4 footer. He must have freaked out at how easy the shot was, because he tried to bank it in, and almost missed the backboard entirely, which led to a fastbreak basket for Pitt. It was brutal.

On defense, although his size helped him to keep Pitt out of the paint a bit, he did nothing other than that. One rebound in 17 minutes is absolutely unacceptable for a guy who’s 6’9, 270.

Honestly, I don’t think he’ll ever be the player we want him to be. I think his athleticism took a huge hit with the knee injuries. He doesn’t have any bounce in his step, and he barely even gets off the ground when jumping for a rebound.

I’m afraid he might be a lost cause, which is incredibly unfortunate because he’s such a nice guy and has had to go through so much adversity just to make it back. Unfortunately, being nice doesn’t win basketball games.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that we are so thin up front, we don’t have a choice but to play him, unless we are going to put our eggs into the Obokoh basket or force Lydon into the middle more, both of which I think everyone knows are not wise decisions.