Rakeem Christmas flung his arm forward once to swat Joel James’ layup past the 3-point line.

He sprinted downcourt, grabbed a Tyler Ennis miss and found C.J. Fair for an open 18-footer.

Then he turned away J.P. Tokoto and James Michael McAdoo on the next possession.

“We feed off each other’s energy,” Syracuse forward Jerami Grant said. “Whenever he does something I want to do something, and vice versa.”

Christmas finished with only two points, but contributed eight rebounds, four blocks and a couple head-first dives to give No. 2 Syracuse (16-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) extra possessions in its 57-45 win against North Carolina (10-6, 0-3) on Saturday. Christmas was so defensively inept against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 31 that Jim Boeheim decided to walk away from his press conference rather than address the forward’s biggest failures.

But against the Tar Heels, he was a defensive stalwart, continuing to play with a high-octane motor despite his lingering right thumb contusion.

“Defensively he’s one of the best bigs we have,” point guard Tyler Ennis said. “We count on him to get stops, we count on him to rebound and he’s just kind of getting the recognition now.

“Coach is hard on him, but he always responds. He’s kind of one of the leaders for us.”

Christmas helped energize the slow-starting Orange early when he dove to scoop up a mishandled dribble by UNC sophomore forward Brice Johnson with 11:02 left in the first half.

He rolled to his side, protecting the ball from a pair of Tar Heels players, before finding Michael Gbinije for the pass.

“We’re a different team when you see Rak out there hustling for loose balls and stuff,” Fair said.

Christmas also outworked bigger UNC bodies in the paint. Facing 280-pound Joel James and 290-pound Kennedy Meeks, the 250-pound Christmas boxed out and was sure-handed in cleaning the glass.

It’s a good sign for the Orange moving forward as sophomore center DaJuan Coleman is still limited with a left leg contusion. Coleman did not play against the Tar Heels.

“I think Rakeem was good,” Boeheim said. “He went after the ball.”

Published on January 11, 2014 at 5:55 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1