Syracuse (5-1) pulled away from Holy Cross (3-1) for a 72-48 win in the Carrier Dome on Friday night, and here are three takeaways from the game.

1. May not matter

Syracuse’s shooters couldn’t have thrown a basketball into Onondaga Lake in the game, but it surprisingly didn’t hinder the Orange’s production in the post.

SU finished 0-for-14 from 3, but the Crusaders still couldn’t stop Rakeem Christmas from collecting a career-high 25 points and Chris McCullough getting 14, the sixth time the freshman forward has scored in double figures in as many games this season.

It’s worth nothing that Holy Cross doesn’t have the kind of frontcourt that most of the Orange’s opponents will sport this season, but Friday was another day of survival for SU’s scoring bigs despite another dismal outside-shooting display.

2. Count on it

Even though Christmas’ output led the way, McCullough’s steady night was another reason to believe that the first-year forward is a reliable secondary option for an offense that badly needs one.

McCullough was strong on the boards and finished with a team-high 13 rebounds, but was most impressive in the mid-range game. That’s where his face-up jump shot froze Crusaders defenders that could watch as make after make left his high release and found the bottom of the net.

3. Validated

After a subpar performance against Loyola on Tuesday, SU head coach Jim Boeheim came down on junior forward Michael Gbinije. And if those comments weren’t warranted before, Gbinije was clumsy running the offense whenever point guard Kaleb Joseph was out of the game or off the ball.

Gbinije gave away the ball twice in the second half and finished with two turnovers in the game. He also picked up a foul on back-to-back possessions with the Crusaders threatening to climb back into the game in the second half.

Boeheim is giving Gbinije the chance to play out of his early-season funk, and he didn’t seize the chance against Holy Cross.

Published on November 28, 2014 at 9:08 pm