With a minute left in the first half and Syracuse gripping to a 25-point lead, freshman point guard Kaleb Joseph looked his age.

Joseph jumped up and tried to throw an overhead pass from half court, but it went right into the hands of Kennesaw State guard Yonel Brown. When Brown started on a clear path to the basket, Joseph gritted his teeth, chased Brown down and slammed into him as he finished a layup.

Had it not come in a season-opening blowout against an inferior Owls’ team, Joseph’s gaffe and the ensuing three-point play would have been more than a speck in an otherwise dominant team showing.

Friday night was a good time for growing pains and Joseph met them with a well-rounded performance.

“He made a couple mistakes, which is normal for most freshman point guards,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’ll learn from it.”

In his first collegiate game — an 89-42 Orange (1-0) win over the Owls (0-1) on Friday — Joseph accounted for four of No. 23 Syracuse’s 11 turnovers, and finished with four points and four fouls in 23 minutes. He was the only SU starter to not score in double figures, taking just four shots in a game that needed more facilitation than tangible offensive production.

Aside from his four turnovers, four fouls and four points, he collected five rebounds, six assists and two steals.

“Just trying to make plays, just trying to get in lanes and make plays,” Joseph said of his high turnover number. “Sometimes you just got to live and die with it, sometimes that happens.”

After Syracuse’s exhibition win over Adrian on Monday night, Boeheim said he wanted his freshman point guard to be more assertive on the offensive end. That didn’t happen against Kennesaw State, but Joseph was good on defense and pushed the tempo — which helped the Orange offense get to the rim and shake an anemic start.

And after closing the half with a turnover and the immature foul, Joseph got the best of Brown. He gathered a loose ball in front of the Syracuse bench, dribbled in a circle around him and hit a smooth 18-foot jump shot from the right wing.

Then he lightly jogged back on defense with a little more bounce in his step, showing the bright side of a learning process that will include ups, downs and everything in between.

“It’s going to happen, you’re going to try and force it,” SU guard Trevor Cooney said. “He was just trying to force it a little too much and he needs to take a step back and just play the game, that’s all.”

Published on November 14, 2014 at 11:35 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse