C.J. Fair swooped up the court in a hurry, using a left-handed power dribble to motor by the Holy Family defense.

He entered the paint and saw Rakeem Christmas to his right. Fair stealthily snuck a pass underneath Derrick Stewart’s arm and Christmas flushed with authority.

On Syracuse’s next possession, Fair snagged a rebound off a Hunter Wysocki miss and raced the other way. He found a camped-out Tyler Ennis, who nailed a 3-pointer amid a 11-0 run. Fair finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks in the Orange’s 79-41 beat down of Holy Family on Friday night.

Fair looked comfortable bringing the ball up and facilitated the offense more than he did for much of last year.

“In the offseason, I focused a lot on dribbling the ball,” Fair said, “because I know sometimes I’m going to have to take pressure off the guards.”

Coach Boeheim said Fair looked good on the boards and has worked on all facets of his game in the offseason. He said Fair has improved his playmaking ability and that the strides he’s made were evident Friday.

“I know it’s something that he’s worked on,” Cooney said. “He looked great tonight going off the dribble and he does in practice all the time.”

Fair’s most emphatic play came nearly a minute and a half into the second half, and it came off of the dribble. Two Tiger defenders swarmed him. Fair upfaked, took one dribble to the rack and threw down a one-handed jam with authority.

He scored or assisted on 15 of Syracuse’s first 22 points in the second half, including a pass to Jerami Grant for a dunk at the 15:45 mark, followed by a 3-pointer a few minutes later. He passed and dribbled with far less apprehension and far more fluidity than he did a year ago.

“It’s all about getting comfortable with myself,” Fair said, “and Coach letting me do those type of things.”

Published on November 2, 2013 at 12:37 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass