On Friday, I had some time on my hands so I decided to pull out some Syracuse basketball stat sheets and break them down like Sherklock Holmes does to a mystery case. I tweeted these findings Friday but I figured I'd share this info with readers who do not use Twitter or don't follow me.
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Lately, Scoop Jardine Has Been Fantastic
The idea of breaking down the stat sheet came with two thoughts: First, I wanted to see how different SU was without sophomore center Fab Melo in the line up; and second, figure out how good Jardine has been in the last four games.
Well, I found out that Jardine has been "tremendous", as he's compiled an assist to turnover ratio of staggering 4.7. To put that number in perspective, the Big East leader in assist to turnover ratio is Notre Dame's guard Jerian Grant, who's at 2.9.
In the last four games, Jardine has averaged 9.2 points per game, 7.0 assists per game and 1.5 turnovers per game.
Syracuse's 3-Point Shooting No Existent
Lately, the Orange has been terrible from 3-point range, however, no SU players have been as bad as senior forward Kris Joseph and junior forward James Southerland, who have combined to go 5-for-33 (15.1-percent) in the last four games.
During that span, Joseph's 3-point percentage is 11.8-percent (2-for-17) while Southerland is making just 18.8-percent (3-for-16).
Who's To Blame For Rebounding Woes?
Also, during the last four games Syracuse has struggled rebounding the ball. Now, this has been an issue for the Orange all season long, but recently it has reached noticeable levels.
It is easy to blame the absence of Melo, but I wanted to know who hasn't been stepping up to fill the void. Well, I think I found the player(s).
In SU's first 19 games, Player A averaged .21 rebounds per playing-minutes; Player B (.20) and Player C (.16).
In SU's last four games, Player B (.19), Player A (.18) and Player C (.14).
Key: Player A is sophomore forward C.J. Fair; Player B is Southerland; Player C is Kris Joseph.
For Fair, that's a huge drop off in production as his playing minutes increased during Melo's absence. Joseph's production dropped too, while Southerland's went up.
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