Syracuse Basketball vs. UNC: 4 Keys to the Game

2 of 5

Jan 26, 2015; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Joel James (42) grabs a rebound as forward Isaiah Hicks (22) looks on and Syracuse Orange forward Rakeem Christmas (25) and guard Kaleb Joseph (14) and forward Tyler Roberson (21) look on in the first half. The Tar Heels defeated the Orange 93-83 at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

Limit Second Chance Points

Let’s face it. Syracuse is not a good team in terms of interior defense. We all know it. Tyler Lydon is absolutely not a center, and Dajuan Coleman is too foul prone and not athletic enough to cover some of the better players in the ACC like Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks.

North Carolina is going to get a ton of good interior looks. The key is going to be for Syracuse to keep everything in front of them and rebound the misses. I know that’s easier said than done, especially against a very physical team like North Carolina, but it’s absolutely possible.

More from Syracuse Basketball

My advice is to play Chino Obokoh more. I know he is a complete liability on the offensive end, but defensively, he has actually looked like our best center in his limited minutes. He has solid footwork, rotates well, and closes quickly. He also isn’t as prone to playing too high and giving up the easy dump down behind the zone like Tyler Lydon has done all year.

I say give him some solid run in both halves and see what he can do. I think we’d be pleasantly surprised at his production on the defensive end if he’s actually given a shot.

However, with Boeheim back, that seems rather unlikely. So, if not Chino, then I’d like to see more of Dajuan in the middle, but less of his silly mistakes. Hopefully Boeheim has mentioned to him that he’s been picking up way too many cheap fouls by leaning into defenders and getting them with his body.

In my opinion, most of those have been ticky tack fouls that shouldn’t be called, but they have been, so he needs to learn to play straight up and down. Get your hands up, put a hand in the shooters face, and only elevate after the opponent does. Don’t even go for the block, just try and contest shots. If he can do that, he’ll have a much better chance at staying out of foul trouble and forcing misses.

Then it’s up to the other two at the bottom of the zone (probably a combo of Roberson, Richardson, and Lydon) to box out. I can’t stress enough how essential this is for Syracuse. They’ve actually looked much better the past couple games against Miami and Clemson, and have almost evened up the rebounding in those games. They’ve got to continue doing that and limit the second chance buckets. All three are very capable rebounders, they just need to stop ball watching and stick to the fundamentals.

Home/Syracuse Basketball