Jim Boeheim found it amazing Syracuse beat DePaul, 75-69, considering the Blue Demons out-rebounded the Orange, 45-32. Twenty of DePaul’s rebounds came on the offensive glass. It’s been an ongoing problem for Syracuse, which averages only nine offensive rebounds a game.

SU visits Connecticut tonight at 7 in Storrs, Conn., where it will face the likes of 7-foot-3 Hasheem Thabeet and 6-foot-7 Jeff Adrien. Even though the Huskies (14-8, 3-6) have been plagued by inexperience and would not be eligible for the Big East tournament were the season to end today, Boeheim is wary of the fact that his players will be overwhelmed with a height disadvantage.

Adrien leads the Huskies with 9.7 rebounds a game while Thabeet grabs 6.4 rebounds. Adrian has recorded double-digit rebounds in three of the past five games. UConn has out rebounded opponents by nine each game. And SU has been out-rebounded against smaller opponents such as Colgate, Louisville and DePaul.

In SU’s victory over the Blue Demons Saturday, center Darryl Watkins grabbed eight boards while Terrence Roberts pulled down only six. DePaul’s Wilson Chandler recorded 13, one less than Roberts and Watkins combined.

Boeheim thought Roberts’ ongoing knee injury hurt him in the second half. He suggested that SU forward Paul Harris and center Matt Gorman will have a bigger role coming off the bench tonight.

‘Paul and Matt are going to have to be ready. They’ll get a lot of time against Connecticut,’ Boeheim said. ‘(DePaul’s) not a big, strong team. They’re quick. Connecticut is a better rebounding team. They’re going to go on the boards harder than this team. I’m disappointed we can’t rebound the ball better.’

It’s unlikely Gorman will help the rebounding numbers. He has yet to grab more than five rebounds. But Harris has prided his work on the glass. Against St. John’s and Notre Dame – games he played more than 20 minutes – Harris grabbed 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively.

But if Harris is to have a bigger role tonight, he hopes SU will use more of a transition game. Harris has struggled adapting to the Orange’s half-court offense. He no longer can depend on driving to the basket as he did in non-conference games.

In the Big East, Harris cracked double-digit points only once when SU fell to Notre Dame last week. Many of those points came on transition baskets.

‘It hypes you up when you get an easy bucket early in the game,’ Harris said. ‘A little lay-up wants to make you run the floor more. That’s what we need to do – run the floor more.’

In fact Syracuse has shown that it’s much more dangerous offensively and defensively when it’s tried to push on transition. In SU’s first regular season game, the Orange forced St. Francis (N.Y.) to make 26 turnovers, which was converted to 31 points. SU made 17 points off of Louisville’s 11 turnovers. On Saturday, the Orange did it again by scoring 19 points off of DePaul’s 17 turnovers.

So while Boeheim is worried about the rebounding problems, SU hopes the transition game could correct that on the offensive and defensive end.

‘Our defensive pressure was good and we got a lot of transition buckets,’ SU guard Andy Rautins said. ‘That helped us out a lot. We kept our turnovers down as well. That was huge for us. I think we’re a much better team in transition. Everybody gets out. Everybody gets excited. Offensively we’re able to get in a good rhythm after some exciting baskets.’

Harris and Devendorf find more opportunities to make their drives on transition. Demetris Nichols, Rautins and Devendorf can find themselves open on the wing on transition. SU guard Josh Wright sees better openings to feed the ball inside to Watkins, Roberts and Gorman. All of that happens when SU either forces turnovers or when it makes the quick outlet pass after a defensive rebound.

Going against the Huskies big men, no matter how young, will be a big opportunity for Gorman and Harris if they are asked for a bigger role tonight.

‘When we can get on the open court and get easy buckets, I think that opens up a lot of things,’ Devendorf said. ‘I try to thrive on that, get on the open floor and get easy buckets for myself and for my teammates. When I can do that, I think it opens up the offense. It gets us more energetic on the defensive end as well.’

Published on February 4, 2007 at 12:00 pm