PITTSBURGH — For all the fear and worry that surrounded Jerami Grant’s role of backup center coming into Syracuse’s 58-56 win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday, the 210-pound sophomore forward played only about five minutes in the middle of SU’s 2-3 zone.

Junior center Rakeem Christmas played a season-high 35 minutes.

“I thought Rak did a great job tonight,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Not having Baye (Moussa Keita), he had to play without being in foul trouble.

“He hasn’t had to do that, so he’s been a little bit reckless sometimes. Tonight he was very good.”

Christmas finished with seven points, five rebounds and three blocks, but his biggest contribution was undoubtedly keeping Grant on the wing. Christmas spaced out his fouls through the game, only sitting down for the last 1:55 of the first half and a span of 2:44 midway through the second stanza.

Facing a tough Panthers frontcourt led by Talib Zanna, who finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds, Christmas may not have been a defense stalwart, but he was certainly a presence.

“Pitt always plays physical,” Grant said. “They’re a physical team. We knew what to expect coming into the game. They’re definitely one of the more physical teams in the country.”

Early on, Christmas’ cautiousness was apparent. He jerked his hand around following an early whistle — not on him — and was careful to defend Pitt players driving to the rim.

But despite SU getting routed on the offensive glass, he improved as a rim protector. He blocked Zanna twice before picking up his first foul on a moving screen with 13:13 left in the first half.

Then he didn’t pick up his second until the 1:55 mark in the first half on a Zanna take. During that time, Grant held his own at center as the SU zone tightened and denied the entry pass into the high post.

After picking up his third foul 3:27 into the second half, Christmas played the next 3:21 with three fouls before exiting the game at the same time as Zanna.

Then he returned to spell Grant once more before picking up his final foul with 4.4 seconds left.

“He did a great job not picking up a lot of fouls so he had to go out and sit,” Grant said. “He did a great job. Definitely, I’m happy the way he played on defense.”

Published on February 13, 2014 at 1:58 am

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1