Three times, Wake Forest defended Tyler Roberson the same exact way — by leaving him wide open.

The Demon Deacons dared the Syracuse forward to shoot midrange jumpers, and his first three clanked off the rim Tuesday night.

“If somebody doesn’t guard you, you have to find a way to make them pay,” head coach Jim Boeheim said after SU’s 86-83 win over WFU. “It might just be screening, set a good screen and get a guy open because there’s no one there to help because they’re not guarding you.

“He’s got to play better. He’s got to lift the level of his game.”

Due to an abdominal injury, Roberson lost his starting spot after the Orange’s first four games, but once again it’s his to lose with freshman Chris McCullough sidelined for the rest of the year with a torn ACL. The sophomore has proven his worth on the boards and on the wings of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, but his offense is still a work in progress.

He’ll get another chance to find his groove starting as SU’s four-man — his natural position — when the Orange (13-4, 4-0 Atlantic Coast) heads to Clemson (9-7, 1-3) for a 4 p.m. Saturday showdown.

“If they’re going to leave him open, he’s got to hit the shots,” shooting guard Trevor Cooney said, “and he’s got to crash the boards offensively and defensively and he’s good at that.

“He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing, and we know that he will. And he’s going to expand his game a little bit and get some more confidence in himself.”

Before Sunday, Roberson occasionally had to slide down to play the three when SU’s lineups included him, McCullough and senior Rakeem Christmas. But after McCullough’s season-ending injury, Roberson figures to exclusively be the Orange’s power forward and for more minutes per game than he’s used to.

With 17-rebound performances against Louisiana Tech and Virginia Tech, the 6-foot-8 Roberson’s value on the glass is unquestioned and his lankiness is helpful on defense.

While Christmas, Cooney and Michael Gbinije led the charge on offense Tuesday night, Roberson’s contributions — 10 rebounds, including two off SU misses in overtime — were elsewhere.

“I was just looking for other things to help out the team and it was rebounding and playing defense today,” Roberson said after beating Wake Forest. “That’s what I really tried to do and I think I was able to help out like that.”

Even if SU didn’t need offense from Roberson — who made just 3-of-11 attempts — on Tuesday night, his room for improvement presents a hole in the Orange’s attack. And he’s only going to get more opportunities.

Loose man-to-man defenses that give him that space in the midrange instead direct defense’s attention to sending help on Christmas in the post or closing the driving lines for Gbinije and SU’s other perimeter players.

And if Roberson can make himself more useful around the elbows — whether it be sticking the midrange jumper or freeing up teammates with screens — that’ll help ensure that Syracuse’s best scorers still get their opportunities and the offense is flowing as it should.

“He’s getting great opportunities because nobody is guarding him,” Boeheim said of Roberson, “but he can’t quite figure out where to be, where to do whatever it is that he can do.

“We need him to figure that out.”

Published on January 15, 2015 at 12:08 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb