Kris Joseph scored 17 points and Scoop Jardine added 14, as top-ranked Syracuse cruised past Bucknell, 80-61, at the Carrier Dome.
Rakeem Christmas had his best game since joining SU with10 point, five rebounds and two blocks in 14 minutes of action.
Fab Melo posted eight points and nine rebounds for the well-balanced Orange, who improved to 12-0 for the third straight season and saw 10 players score in the rout.
The Orange got off to a quick start, opening an 11-4 edge on Dion Waiters' jumper 6 and a half minutes in. Four straight from James Southerland, the last three on a straight-on trey pushed the home team's advantage to double digits at 19-8.
Speaking of Dion, Mr. Sixth Starter played only ten minutes. Cause for concern? Hardly.
"No he's fine," Boeheim said about D.W. "We wanted to give Michael some opportunity. It was a good opportunity for Michael to get some time.
— Jared E. Smith (@JaredSmithCNY) December 21, 2011
Speaking of MCW, he played 22 minutes and garnered six points, four assists and three turnovers. Four of those six points came from the free thrown line.
Pretty much everyone played...except Mookie Jones. It's the second time Mookie has been passed over for the walk-ons and I'm not sure if Boeheim is trying to send a message there or not.
Boeheim was really happy with Rak's performance, though he'd like to see a little more physicality out of the freshman:
Boeheim also said that Rakeem Christmas needs to be tougher like he was 2nite. Said, Xmas is a nice kid, but more of an edge on the court.
— Jared E. Smith (@JaredSmithCNY) December 21, 2011
Syracuse made 52.8 percent of its shots, including eight treys, and held Bucknell to a 37.3 field goal percentage.
For the final word on the game, we turn to James Arthur:
"We’re a pretty good offensive team. I think people are worried about that and I’m not sure why. We’re a pretty good offensive team. We made some shots the other night, we made some shots tonight, and I think we can make more shots. It was good to get Michael in there and it was good for Rakeem Christmas too. Rakeem got off to a great start and I thought he was very good and very productive. He’s learning, but I thought tonight he did some really good things. I thought Fab Melo rebounded well.
"Again, everyone is not going to play well every night. James Southerland had a couple of looks he missed. C.J. Fair had a couple opportunities that he didn’t convert, but he made a couple good plays. Everyone is not going to play well every night. The one guy we need to have out there every night is Kris Joseph. I think Scoop Jardine is another guy we need to have there, but when someone is off, someone else can pick it up. I thought Fab was very good tonight. Again, they have a good team. Their big guy is good."
Up next for the Orange are the Tulane Green Wave, who come to town on Thursday for the final non-con game of the year. Fingers crossed for Mookie, hope he gets a few minutes.
For more on this game, check out the SB Nation NY wrap, Syracuse.com recap and Daily Orange report.