NEW YORK — It seems the question comes up every time Syracuse plays a game on the national stage.

In some form or another, head coach Jim Boeheim and his players are asked to talk about the depth this team has. And over and over again, they deliver the same message.

‘Whoever’s playing hot, whoever’s playing great at the time, (Boeheim’s) going to play them,’ senior Scoop Jardine said. ‘And we know that. For the most part we just have to continue to be a team and continue to make plays. … We have 10 starters.’

There have been times this year where that point of the Orange having 10 starters has been in question. Freshmen Rakeem Christmas and Michael Carter-Williams have gone weeks at a time without having significant influence on any games. But in SU’s Big East Tournament quarterfinal win over Connecticut Thursday, the rookie duo showed once again that the Orange may be the deepest team in the country.

Christmas and Carter-Williams will look to continue their strong play in the semifinals when SU (31-1) meets Cincinnati (23-9) Friday at 7 p.m. in Madison Square Garden.

‘They’re the guys that win the national championship for us,’ Jardine said referring to the Orange’s role players. ‘They’re the guys. A James Southerland or a Rakeem coming in and getting six or seven rebounds. That’s what we ask them to do and today, they did it. We call their number, I think they’re going to deliver for us all year.’

Carter-Williams and Christmas were somewhat overshadowed by their bench counterparts Dion Waiters and Southerland against the Huskies. But the two rookies provided some key minutes as the rest of the Orange struggled in the first half.

Carter-Williams supplied an offensive spark for the Orange with four assists in eight minutes. His flashiest play came on a no-look, underhand bullet pass to Christmas for an easy dunk.

And at 6-foot-5, he also provided another tough obstacle for the Huskies at the top of the 2-3 zone.

‘Mike, he always takes advantage of his opportunities when he’s in the game,’ sophomore C.J. Fair said. ‘Whenever he comes in, he brings up the intensity. Him and Dion got us going early. When he does that, it helps us in a big way.’

In SU’s last seven games leading up to the Big East Tournament, Christmas failed to score while only contributing two rebounds and one assist. On Thursday, he started the game on the bench for the first time this year but spelled Orange center Fab Melo with eight minutes of solid production.

He manned the middle of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone and came up with two big blocks on back-to-back possessions. The freshman also added five rebounds, one less than Melo had in 32 minutes. 

‘He was huge in the first half,’ Boeheim said. ‘I thought he was really good, and I think this was a good game for him and gave us another guy in that center position. I thought he was very good today.’

If Christmas and Carter-Williams can continue to perform like that the rest of the way, teams will have trouble dealing with the variety of threats SU has on both ends of the floor. And even though sophomore Baye Keita did not play against UConn, the emergence of the two freshmen once again showed the Orange can confidently go deep in its bench.

Even though it was only eight minutes for both, the playing time gave them a taste of postseason play.

Christmas was not in the locker room after the game to talk to the media. But Carter-Williams said it was nice to be a part of such a big win.

‘I was more excited to go into the game,’ he said. ‘To go in there and get a chance to play and to prove to everybody that I can play out there. I was more excited to contribute to the team.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on March 7, 2012 at 12:00 pm