With 7:53 remaining, Dion Waiters sat on the bench and peeled the tape off his left thumb in acknowledgment that his night was over. Brandon Triche, already on the bench for nearly seven minutes at that point, wouldn’t return to the floor either.

The two Syracuse guards, thought by many to be the best backcourt tandem for the Orange, were quiet against Bucknell on Tuesday. They combined for 10 points in 25 total minutes.

But put simply, Syracuse had what it needed to knock off the Bison.

‘Everybody is not going to play good every night,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘I think the one guy we need to have out there every night is Kris (Joseph), and I think Scoop (Jardine) is another guy we need to have there.’

Joseph and Jardine scored 17 points and 14 points, respectively, on Tuesday to lead the No. 1 Orange to an 80-61 win over Bucknell and keep the perfect record intact. On a night where Waiters and Triche struggled, Syracuse’s (12-0) two senior leaders provided the perfect amount of offense to keep the Bison (7-5) at bay in front of 17,302 in the Carrier Dome. Twenty of their 31 combined points came in the second half to offset the off nights from SU’s other guards.

Patience was the word used by both Joseph and Jardine to describe their offensive play on Tuesday. And as Bucknell limited the transition opportunities for the Orange, which finished with a lowly nine fast-break points, SU’s seniors ran the half-court offense to perfection.

Bucknell’s Bryan Cohen, who at 6 feet, 6 inches is just one inch shorter than Joseph, had a considerably shorter wingspan, meaning the SU forward could shoot over the top.

So in a halfcourt set late in the first half, Joseph had the ball at the left elbow. He paused for a brief moment, allowing the rest of the play to develop. And instead of forcing a drive to the rim, he surveyed his options the best of which was to bury a fadeaway jumper right over top of Cohen to give SU a 32-17 lead.

Joseph opened the second half with a 3 from the left corner over the diminutive reach of a Bucknell defender.

‘Sometimes I feel like I would get the ball and rush,’ Joseph said. ‘I just let the plays develop, let guys clear out, and I saw lanes and I took them. I felt like I had a little height advantage against my defender, and a little size advantage, so I was just using it to the best of my capabilities.’

But as Joseph said, the lanes were there as well. With 13:23 remaining, Joseph curled tightly off a screen by Rakeem Christmas to receive a pass and lay the ball in. He was fouled on the play and made the free throw as well.

He shot an efficient 5-of-10 from the field and converted all five of his free throws.

‘I think that we were more patient and our guards did a great job of getting us into our sets,’ Joseph said.’

In the second half, Jardine took on more of the offensive onus himself. The Bison closed to within 13 at 62-49 with 7:03 remaining, but SU’s floor leader ended the momentum.

After a missed 3-pointer by Bucknell’s Bryson Johnson, Jardine lobbed a perfect pass to C.J. Fair for an alley-oop that reenergized the crowd. He took the ball all the way to the rim for a layup on the Orange’s next possession.

‘I’m just taking what the defense gives me, seeing how they play me in the first half and coming down and making my shots,’ Jardine said.

And after a steal with 4:18 remaining, Jardine organized the offense for his biggest shot of the game. Standing out top with the ball, Jardine barked at center Fab Melo to move to the other block. Only then would Jardine initiate the offense.

Several passes later, he buried a 3 from in front of the SU bench to extend the lead back to 16 with 3:55 remaining.

‘It’s what we have to do,’ Joseph said. ‘We’re at a time in our career where we’ve been here a long time, we’re like grandparents to this team.

‘That’s what we need to do, we need to perform well for our team. Not necessarily points per game, but just being there offensively to make plays for our team. And I think that if Scoop and I are doing that every night, we’re going to be successful.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

 

Published on December 20, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13