CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — For as well as Syracuse played in January, its prevailing weakness came inside the paint. Over the past several weeks, SU has watched chance after chance slip away. They’ve come in several forms: rebounds, pick-and-roll opportunities and altered shots. As the offense surged, the progression of SU bigs stagnated.

Wednesday night in a 77-71 win over Boston College (11-8, 2-5 Atlantic Coast), Syracuse (15-6, 6-2) bounced back from a 22-point loss at Virginia Tech to pick up its eighth win in the last 10 games. SU is taking care of the games it needs to, and its perimeter shooting has surged. But senior center Paschal Chukwu and sophomore forward Marek Dolezaj, who rotate at the center position, have remained stuck in neutral.

The bigs weren’t supposed to do this — not this season. They returned after a year of growth in 2017-18. And yet, they haven’t progressed to the level they need to for Syracuse to play with more consistency.

“I know I need to do more,” Chukwu said last month.

Chukwu wasn’t made available for a postgame interview after scoring two points and attempting only one field goal. He failed to both set a high-ball screen and roll successfully in one fluid sequence. He collected just four rebounds at 7-foot-2. While senior point guard Frank Howard said Chukwu’s been just what SU needs — “we’re happy in his play” — he’s sometimes indecisive in ball-screen scenarios. Against the Eagles, he mishandled a couple of dump-offs inside that would have given him easy looks at the basket had he caught the pass.

“Our inside guys aren’t finishing around the basket bad(ly),” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Our rebounding is atrocious. Our defense inside is not good.”

Josh Shub-Seltzer | Staff Photographer

Dolezaj was no better that Chukwu, finishing with three points and going 1-for-3 from the field. Dolezaj said Boeheim wants him to be more aggressive: “Shoot when I’m open,” is the message. Yet, he’s hesitated when freed-up after setting screens, and he’s missed looks inside. When Dolezaj didn’t make an open layup Wednesday, the Eagles got the rebound and scored a transition bucket.

After the game, Boeheim spoke with a concerned tone when breaking down the Orange frontcourt. He knows his bigs can do more. And he knows they need to do more. Their emergence could go a long way for a Syracuse team looking to handle the better conference opponents ahead on the schedule.

“I don’t know what he was doing the first 20 minutes in there,” Boeheim said of Chukwu. “He’s 7-foot-2. He’s there, he’s got to stop shots. (Ky) Bowman had two layups right at him.”

Junior shooting guard Tyus Battle, who scored a game-high 31 points with six assists, said his bigs may lack confidence. Earlier in the season, sophomore forward Oshae Brissett also said they’re not assertive enough. It shows when they don’t go up strong in the paint. It shows when they don’t jump high for boards. And it shows when they get bodied up by players several inches shorter.

Last March, Syracuse’s surprise Sweet 16 run was rooted in an air-tight defense that restricted interior drives, contested outside shots and minimized high-post presence. All of that stemmed from the bigs, specifically Chukwu and Dolezaj who patrolled the inside. They were active, altering shots and cutting away lanes. Their offensive production didn’t soar, but they held their own on both ends of the court — a sentiment players said is all the frontcourt needs to do.

“We can’t miss up layups and give up offensive rebounds,” Dolezaj said Wednesday.

A renewed frontcourt would further stretch out a progressing offense still trying to find its true form. Big man production, albeit in small amounts, would reinforce the bottom of the 2-3 zone and make teams more reliant on outside shots. That’s what Syracuse wants: opposing offenses to fall into one-dimensionality. SU bigs have showed, in spurts, what they’re capable of. They just have to produce with more regularity.

“We’ve got to get more out of our inside guys,” Boeheim said. “We’re not going to be successful if we don’t get more from them.”

Published on January 30, 2019 at 11:29 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21