PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The triple-double watch has become routine. With each successive game, there comes a point in time where it seems inevitable that Michael Carter-Williams will creep closer and closer toward the elusive achievement, his supreme athleticism, ability to penetrate and court vision tormenting every opponent.

And Wednesday was no different, as the Syracuse point guard quietly scored 17 points while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out six assists. He has yet to reach the triple-double plateau (his closest effort fell one rebound short earlier this season), but his command of the game is tight as a vice whenever he is on the floor.

He played 38 minutes in Syracuse’s 72-66 win over Providence on Wednesday, amassing those impressive numbers while committing but a single turnover that came after the game was comfortably in control in the final minutes. It was but another ho-hum performance for a player whose average night is among the nation’s best.

“Michel is such a key for us,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “I’ve never had a situation where a kid who has never played — well I did once. I had a guy named Sherman Douglas that never played and he was pretty good as a sophomore. He made first-team (All-Big East), and this kid is headed in the same direction.”

The two most striking aspects of Carter-Williams’ game on Wednesday were his ability to torment man defenses with dribble penetration and two crucial 3-pointers — one in each half — when his team desperately needed them.

For the most part on Wednesday, the Friars played a 2-3 zone defense. But they switched to man briefly in the second half, and Carter-Williams promptly blew by his defender and found Rakeem Christmas for a dunk and a foul (Christmas made both free throws) on back-to-back possessions.

Immediately, Providence abandoned the man defense.

“Every time they went man-to-man he made them pay,” Boeheim said. “He got in the lane and he got two guys dunks off that. He’s really good. He’s playing certainly as well as you could hope for in the first opportunity to play in college. He’s had a lot of big games for us.”

And on a night where James Southerland and Brandon Triche couldn’t hit water from a ship, it was ironic that Carter-Williams, a player who opponents leave open intentionally because of his streaky-at-best jump shot, nailed two of the game’s biggest 3-pointers.

In the first half his 3 cut the Providence lead from eight to five with less than four minutes to go. And in the second half he nailed a shot from the top of the key with the shot clock winding down and the score tied.

“Michael did hit some big shots,” C.J. Fair said. “He’s not afraid of taking big shots, and for you to be a good player you can’t be afraid. Even though his shot hasn’t been falling lately, he stuck with it and knocked down some big ones.”

Published on January 10, 2013 at 11:26 am

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13