Brandon Triche said he would feel silly at times during his last three seasons. After an opposing player missed a shot, the Syracuse guard would start to break up the court. Triche would get halfway, turn around and realize his team failed to snag the rebound.

This season, Triche found a way to make sure he never has that helpless feeling again.

“I figured if I could get the rebound, I could start the break myself,” Triche said.

Triche and the rest of the Orange’s guards have crashed the boards hard in Syracuse’s first two games this season. Against Wagner, Triche had seven rebounds while Michael Carter-Williams had six. Syracuse plays Princeton on Wednesday at 7 p.m., a deliberate offensive team that drains the play clock with ball movement and backdoor cuts. Rebounding is going to be critical for the Orange to limit the Tigers’ possessions as much as possible.

It’s not as much a new focus on rebounding as it is about SU’s guards taking advantage of their size. They can fight for rebounds with centers and forwards on opposing teams. Their length makes it nearly impossible for opponents to get easy boards.

Triche and Carter-Williams’ active play on the glass has made Syracuse a daunting defensive team.

“I think we’re both bigger guard and I think we can rebound with the big men, especially on the defensive end,” Carter-Williams said. “We know that the defense is not over until we get the rebound so we try to go and hustle after every rebound.”

Five of Carter-Williams’ rebounds on Sunday came on the defensive glass.

Syracuse was 13th in rebounding margin last season at minus-1.7. Head coach Jim Boeheim said several times during the year that his team’s rebounding deficiency wasn’t because his low-post players were failing to be assertive on the boards. Instead, the Orange’s guards had to be more active on the outside.

Though it’s a small sample size, that’s happened this season.

“I think they’re capable of it. They’re big, they’re long, play strong,” Boeheim said. “Brandon’s particularly strong. I think that’s something that he can do.”

For a team that thrives in transition as much as Syracuse does, rebounding is key. With the 6-foot-6 Carter-Williams and the 6-foot-4 Triche giving the Orange significant strength in the backcourt, Syracuse’s defense has gotten a boost.

SU had a 36-23 lead over Wagner at halftime on Sunday. But in the second half, Syracuse had a 15 to seven advantage in rebounds on the defensive boards, which helped the Orange cruise to the eventual 88-57 win.

“We also got a lot of rebounds. We stayed strong down there,” SU forward James Southerland said. “We didn’t let anybody push us around, so I feel like that helped us.”

Overall, Syracuse’s guards were extremely active on defense. Trevor Cooney, expected to be strictly an offensive weapon, stationed behind the arc to make 3-pointers in bunches for the Orange off the bench. He showed another dimension to his game against Wagner when he finished with six steals and was all over the floor to snag loose balls.

When Boeheim glanced at the statistics during his press conference on Sunday, Cooney’s six steals jumped off the page at him. So much so he joked Cooney must have a relative keeping track of steals.

Regardless, what Cooney did on defense impressed his head coach.

“He was very good defensively, I think that was the most impressive part,” Boeheim said. “I thought he did a good job on defense. He got some loose balls. He got a couple really good steals.”

Syracuse’s guards were explosive at both ends of the floor. Their activeness on the boards is going to make the Orange an even tougher defensive team.

“I think as guards,” Triche said, “we did a good job rebounding.”

Published on November 21, 2012 at 11:55 am

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman