Rakeem Christmas didn’t have to jump much to block JoJo Fallas’ floater in the paint with about six and a half minutes left in the second half.

And he didn’t have to utilize any pretty post moves 11 seconds later on the other offensive end to bank home a seemingly easy layup to give Syracuse a 20-point lead.

“They weren’t double-teaming me,” Christmas said. “The coaches told me to go right ahead, and I did.”

On a night when the Syracuse offense struggled to get going — shooting just 10-of-27 in the first half — Christmas proved to be a go-to option once again when the Orange needed one. He finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and two blocks as Syracuse (9-4) closed out 2014 and the nonconference schedule with a 61-44 win over Cornell (6-7) in the Carrier Dome on Wednesday night in front of 19,288.

SU head coach Jim Boeheim said The Big Red aborted their plan to double-team Christmas, and it opened up a chance for his fourth-most efficient offensive game of the season.

“He had a good matchup down there and finished,” Boeheim said. “He was very, very good today…And they were good at looking for him and being patient and getting him the ball.”

Syracuse started off shooting 0-4 from the field. With 3:30 gone by, neither the Orange nor the Big Red had recorded points. But from the post, Christmas turned, faced up Shonn Miller, then made a pretty spin move toward the basket to end the drought.

Just over 10 minutes later, he scored his second basket on a rare catch-and-shoot jumper from the top of the key.

SU guard Kaleb Joseph said that Cornell couldn’t double-team Christmas because he’s too good with the ball and rarely makes poor decisions. The Big Red had doubled early in the game, but that opened up too many opportunities elsewhere for the Orange, so Cornell had play him one-on-one, he said.

“He creates a lot of mismatches offensively for us,” Joseph said. “So we try to do a good job of capitalizing off that. He answered when Coach called on him.”

His ability to stay on the floor has paid direct dividends for his ability to produce. After not committing a single foul against Long Beach State on Sunday, Christmas again stayed out of foul trouble. On Wednesday, he had two fouls, which marked only the third time in 13 games that he had two or fewer fouls.

In his first 11 games he averaged a hair under 30 minutes per game. The past two, he’s played 35.5 minutes.

“He’s getting better, he’s learning,” Boeheim said of Christmas’ foul woes. “He’s much more aware of it.”

And his presence forced Cornell basically to pick their poison on Wednesday. Double-team Christmas, and allow him to create for others. Or play him one-on-one and let him bully a team whose primary post players are 2 inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter than him.

Christmas said he doubts he will get more games where teams single-cover him. But it’d be nice if they did he said, with a laugh.

In a game when offense was hard to come by, Christmas made it look easy.

“You’ve just got to play out,” he said. “Just play how it comes.”

Published on December 31, 2014 at 9:52 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3