DaJuan Coleman is placing most of his focus on two particular elements of his game: catching the ball deep in the paint and keeping it high once he has it.

On Tuesday, he showed improvement in both areas. After finishing with a mere two points and four rebounds against Cornell, Coleman posted a double-double in No. 9 Syracuse’s (2-0) 89-74 win over Fordham (1-1) at the Carrier Dome in front of 22,667.

“DaJuan played his game,” freshman forward B.J. Johnson said. “Came up big with some rebounds. He played very well.”

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said Coleman is a force down low and does a good job corralling rebounds. He had 10 against Fordham, seven of which came on the offensive glass.

“He gets in the middle,” Boeheim said. “He gets his hands on balls.”

Late in the first half, Coleman snatched a C.J. Fair miss. He missed a layup, but after the ball deflected off Jerami Grant’s chest, Coleman grabbed it and elevated to shoot.

The shot swirled around the rim and fell. Coleman was fouled and his free throw extended SU’s lead to 42-19.

There were times when Coleman was inefficient, though.

On one play in the second half, he started with the ball 3 feet outside the paint and thumped his way inside and forced a shot.

Assistant coach Mike Hopkins, who works with Coleman in practice, stood up and swung his fist. Hopkins seemed to be half excited about the move and half frustrated with the shot selection and that Coleman didn’t finish.

Coleman said he’s working on positioning himself deeper inside so he can rise up to the basket and not have to make an unnecessarily complicated move to get toward the rim.

“The further I get it the easier it’s going to be to score,” Coleman said.

Coleman finished 3-of-6 on Tuesday, and all of his field goals came in the paint.

“That’s the way it should be,” Boeheim said. “If anything, he worked too much away from the paint.”

Published on November 13, 2013 at 12:58 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass