PROVIDENCE, R.I. C.J. Fair found himself in a peculiar spot. Arms extended, Fair manned the middle of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone instead of his familiar spot on the wing.

Seconds earlier, SU freshman Rakeem Christmas walked disgustedly off the court after picking up his fifth foul. He’d played just 16 minutes, and now the Orange was without a true big man for the final nine minutes of regulation.

‘It was crazy playing center,’ the 6-foot-8 Fair said. ‘The crazy thing about it is in practice a couple days ago we were going over the zone for the fours, and they needed an extra man to play defense at center and I was playing it.’

Fair said Syracuse assistant coach Adrian Autry told him to be ready just in case something happened that would require the sophomore to switch positions. So after Christmas trudged off the court and starting center Fab Melo was already saddled with four fouls, Fair was pressed into duty.

‘And there I was playing for a couple possessions,’ he said with a laugh.

The Orange (16-0, 3-0 Big East) was without center Baye Keita for Wednesday’s 87-73 win over Providence (11-5, 0-3), as he missed the game due to injury. That meant Fair was the No. 3 option for head coach Jim Boeheim in one of the first games all season where SU’s big men have been foul prone. The absence of Keita pointed out a potential vulnerability for a guard-heavy Syracuse team, as Christmas struggled to be the man in the middle.

Boeheim said Keita hurt his hip leaving the court prior to the start of SU’s win over DePaul on Saturday and wasn’t healthy enough to play. He participated in warm-ups before the game and before the start of the second half, but he was noticeably limping.

‘It hurts us a little bit that Baye couldn’t go,’ Boeheim said. ‘He hurt himself walking off the court before the DePaul game, and he just can’t go and he’s a big part of our team.’

Keita came into the game averaging only 3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, but his defensive presence was missed.

Christmas, a true freshman, filled in at the center position when Melo was out of the game. His youth and inexperience showed, as he averaged one foul about every three minutes.

Less than two minutes into the game, Providence guard Vincent Council got Christmas to bite on a pump fake in the left corner. Though the foul wasn’t called on the fake, Christmas was out of position as Council drove to the hoop and had to reach in from behind, this time drawing a whistle.

He had another silly foul at the 5:33 mark of the first half when he lost Friars forward Brice Kofane floating along the baseline of the zone. Kofane took a feed from Council and drew a simple foul on his way up to the hoop.

‘Rak is not ready to play in the middle there,’ Boeheim said. ‘Baye is a very important player and we did not have him tonight. That’s the first time we got in foul trouble all year almost in there, and we need him in there. Hopefully he’ll get better and he’ll play Saturday, but I don’t know.’

After impressively tallying 16 blocks in the last two games, Melo only registered two against an undersized PC team. It was a surprising total that could have been a product of self restraint with Keita unable to play.

Boeheim attributed the low block total to Providence’s offense attacking Melo in a different fashion than Seton Hall and DePaul. Instead of going right at him, Boeheim said the Friars opted not to challenge the SU big man.

Though the blocks weren’t there, Melo did draw two key charges down the stretch to help preserve the victory. His second drawn charge erased a layup by Bryce Cotton that would have brought Providence to within six.

Even without the blocks, it was clear that Melo was the only player SU had who could efficiently command the zone. Christmas couldn’t handle the responsibility defensively, and Fair admitted he had to take a few seconds to really think about his assignments in the middle of the defense.

Luckily, Fair said, he was playing center at a time when the Friars needed 3s and weren’t attacking the paint.

‘You see that he’s a big factor to the team because he always comes up with hustle plays, big rebounds, putbacks or anything,’ Fair said of Keita.

‘I didn’t think that far ahead that we would be in this position, but now we’re in this position and it makes me think a little more about being prepared and being a center if the case ever comes again.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

 

 

 

Published on January 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13