Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said not to worry about Terrence Roberts after the forward banged his knee in SU’s win over Saint Rose on Tuesday.

But in SU’s 94-54 pasting of LeMoyne on Thursday, Roberts appeared sluggish for much of his 16 foul-riddled minutes. Wearing a large brace on his right knee, the junior started poorly – missing two easy layups down low – before his trademark emotion surfaced in hitting several shots in the second half.

This time, it was Roberts himself who said not to worry about the knee. He said it’s only sore and he expects to be fine for Tuesday’s Coaches vs. Cancer opener against Bethune-Cookman.

‘The thing with me is it takes me so long to get my legs warm,’ Roberts said. ‘I started out slow because I had the knee brace on. Not that I couldn’t get up and down the floor, just not as fast as I wanted to.’

The junior finished with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting with four rebounds. Foul trouble didn’t help Roberts in finding his rhythm. He picked up three fouls in the first half and another in the second.

His best play came with less than five minutes remaining in the game. He managed to make a shot in the paint, despite receiving a hack on the arm. He hit the subsequent free throw.

‘He’s active, he’s getting in good position, he’s getting opportunities,’ Boeheim said.

An eerily similar injury also happened at the beginning of last season. In the Coaches vs. Cancer opener against Northern Colorado, Roberts twisted his left knee after falling to the floor, and the Carrier Dome crowed hushed. But he returned the following night against Princeton to score, like Thursday, eight points.

‘We’re all big men; we all go through it,’ center Arinze Onuaku said. ‘One day you wake up and your knee’s not feeling good, and the next day you wake up and your knee is feeling great. So on great days, you all are going to see great plays from him.’

In the paint

Speaking of seeing great plays on great days, Onuaku showed vast improvement in the paint on Thursday. He capitalized on an abundance of playing time with Roberts, starting center Darryl Watkins and forward Matt Gorman suffering from foul trouble.

Whether receiving a pass into the paint or pulling down an offensive rebound, Onuaku challenged defenders by strongly driving to the rim.

‘That’s all we’ve been working on in practice – finishing down low,’ Onuaku said. ‘I felt pretty confident. Last game it was a lot different, first time in the Dome. This game I was feeling more confident, more relaxed, playing my game.’

Onuaku played 21 minutes, more than any big man on the team. He scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He also pulled down eight rebounds, second on the team behind guard Louie McCroskey’s 10.

Onuaku scored three points in 14 minutes against Saint Rose on Tuesday.

‘Arinze is a big body; he can do different things with the best of them, and that comes from him playing football in high school,’ Roberts said. ‘He’s goes down there and bangs and gets those tough rebounds that a lot of guys couldn’t get.’

Coming around

After calling his performance terrible and rating himself a ‘D’ in SU’s first exhibition game against Saint Rose, guard Eric Devendorf also improved against LeMoyne.

The freshman wasn’t shy to shoot, hoisting 12 shots – four 3’s – in racking up 16 points, second on the team behind Demetris Nichols’ 23. He finished 6-of-12 from the field, 2-of-4 from downtown.

‘I’m not really looking to score like that,’ Devendorf said. ‘Your first game in the Dome you’re always going to be shaky – it’s the Carrier Dome. I felt good out there tonight. I thought my shot felt pretty good.’

Devendorf will likely fill a sixth-man role to the start the season. Guard Gerry McNamara was correct when he said Devendorf’s seven-point, turnover-filled game against Saint Rose would soon be forgotten.

‘You can’t judge a player by one game, especially the first game of his career,’ McNamara said. ‘He’s going to be a good player, and I think everyone knows that. He made a big step in one game.’

Foul trouble

Referees were all over Syracuse, calling many fouls despite minimal contact. SU players started to show frustration as the game went on.

The Orange committed 25 fouls. Watkins fouled out late in the game and Roberts and Nichols received four each. Forward Matt Gorman, who entered two minutes into the game, picked up three fouls before eight minutes had elapsed.

‘Defensively, we committed some bad fouls,’ Boeheim said. ‘Too much hands, and that’s a lesson for especially our four-men (power forwards Roberts and Gorman).’

Boeheim didn’t mind how the referees were calling the game. In fact, he wishes games will be called that tightly come conference play.

‘But the fouls, little things – if they call it like that in the Big East, that will be good,’ Boeheim said. ‘I hope that happens. They called touch fouls and hand fouls and that’s OK; we can live with that.’

This and that …

The walk-ons didn’t earn any playing time for the second straight game. Last year, they played in both exhibition games. Boeheim inserted the starting five back into the game with 5:41 left. … McNamara played like a prototypical point guard, penetrating and dishing to open teammates for easy lay-ups on many occasions. After scoring 29 points against Saint Rose, he finished with six points on two 3’s against LeMoyne but registered nine assists. … Boeheim yelled at Josh Wright twice after the guard didn’t pass on two fast breaks and failed to convert on either lay-up.

Published on November 5, 2005 at 12:00 pm