Quentin Hillsman found an effective, yet sometimes unpopular, way to emphasize rebounding during Syracuse’s practices. During five-on-five scrimmages, each side is awarded two points for every offensive rebound. The winning team is done with practice, while the losing team runs.

So the players have no choice but to be aggressive on the glass. The drill is run so much that the mindset is instilled in every member of the Orange.

‘It’s huge. It could be a tie game and you get two points because you’re rebounding and your team wins, and the other team runs,’ Hillsman said. ‘So it means everything in practice.’

Ranked fifth in the nation in rebound margin at 17.3, Syracuse has outworked its opponents on the boards, outrebounding them 463-332 this season. It’s been a key part of the Orange’s game, giving them plenty of second chances at a time when the team’s shooting has gone cold. SU lost its last game to West Virginia, which held a 46-39 rebounding advantage, with 22 of WVU’s coming off the offensive glass.

The Orange (6-3, 0-1 Big East) is going to look to regain the advantage on the boards as SU aims to snap a three-game losing streak on Saturday, when it play Coppin State (3-5, 0-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) at 1 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

It was a rare site on a night when the Orange’s offense as a whole failed to knock down shots from the outside. Still, Syracuse managed to take advantage of the boards it did get, and scored 24 second-chance points to help keep the game close late.

After that 76-72 loss to the Mountaineers, SU saw how important those rebounds can be. They got out-rebounded, and it led to a loss. In its last win — a 70-47 rout over Boise State on Nov. 29 — the Orange dominated the boards, notching a total of 57 rebounds, with 29 coming off the offensive glass, and scored 25 second-chance points.

And while fifth in the nation is nice, junior guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas — who’s tied for second on the team with an average of seven boards per game — said first in the nation would sound a lot better. Tyson-Thomas said she hasn’t seen a lack of effort from her team in going hard after rebounds, but did say it could improve.

And with Big East play and tougher opponents on the horizon, Syracuse should elevate its level of play and aggression.

‘We would like to be first in the nation,’ Tyson-Thomas said. ‘We do like to be first in the nation in offensive rebounding, and defense overall because we really get after the ball. Right now, we really haven’t been. I don’t want to say not enough effort yet, because we have more to show. I mean, definitely, we would love to be first.’

Hillsman’s method during practice forces his team to constantly be aware of doing everything possible to get the rebound — executing box outs, getting in the right position on the floor and perhaps most of all, being tougher than the other team in fighting for the ball the second it clanks off the rim.

In the low post, junior center Kayla Alexander has been a consistent rebounder, averaging a team-leading 8.6 per game. Alexander believes the intensity at practices makes a difference during games for the Orange.

‘He has his own version of point systems, such as on defense you get points if you make a deflection, a stop, a turnover,’ Alexander said. ‘On offense, every time you get an offensive rebound, that’s an extra point for you. … I think we take that onto the actual court and we do that against opponents, too.’

And the more the Orange runs that drill in practice, the more ingrained the aggressive mindset will become in the minds of the players.

‘I think we do it well in the game because we do it so well, so repetitive in practice,’ Hall said. ‘…When you get the offensive rebound, you get the ball back. Nobody wants to lose at practice, so we go extra hard for those rebounds. When you’re so used to doing it in practice, it translates to the game.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on December 8, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman