Even if it was at the expense of an injury to arguably Syracuse’s best player, Tyler Roberson got a chance.

In any of the five games prior to Monday night’s contest against Eastern Michigan, the senior forward didn’t play 20 minutes. In that span, he only scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Against the Eagles, though, Roberson shed his orange warmup top late in the first half and played almost the entire second half, to the tune of 25 minutes in which he scored 10 points, secured eight boards, dished out two assists and blocked one shot.

Even if it’s just for now, Roberson felt normal again.

“It’s definitely different. I’m not going to say it’s something I’m used to,” Roberson said of his recent playing time after the Orange’s 105-57 blowout of the Eagles. “I just gotta make adjustments, and it’s not my decision, so I gotta play as hard as I can while I’m out there and try to help the team.”

Roberson’s first bucket on Monday came via an emphatic two-handed slam while being fouled. He missed the foul shot, which he did five times in seven tries, but flashed the Roberson of old that’s capable of asserting himself in the paint.

The reason for Roberson’s benching is simple: he hasn’t been rebounding the ball like he’s shown he can and, of Syracuse’s four big men, Roberson is the most offensively challenged. But without Lydon for the entire second half due to a strained right Achilles tendon, Roberson got his opportunity to take a mid-range jumper, finish around the rim and sky over opponents to grab rebounds, resembling the monster that took over last year’s game at Duke.

“It felt good to be playing a lot. I think I did some good things,” Roberson said. “I obviously made some mistakes, but that happens in the game of basketball. I think I traveled once down there, but other than that I think for the most part I finished almost every time. I did miss miss some free throws, but like I said it happens.”

When asked how he thought Roberson played in extended minutes, Jim Boeheim simply said, “I don’t know.” That was his same answer regarding whether Lydon will be good to go against St. John’s on Wednesday. If the sophomore is still resting his injury, Roberson may be in line to factor heavily for the second game in a row, to potentially show the repertoire he hasn’t been able to very much as of late.

“Not much I can complain about,” Roberson said, “until I go back and watch film and see how I can improve.”

***

MORE COVERAGE:

• What we learned from Syracuse’s win over Eastern Michigan
• Syracuse shreds Eastern Michigan’s familiar 2-3 zone with ball movement and 3-pointers
• Gallery: The best sights from SU’s win
• The Final Word: Beat writers discuss Syracuse’s blowout win
• John Gillon on Twitter trolls: ‘If I really suck, we can meet up any time and play one-on-one’
• Graphical breakdown of the game
• Syracuse fans react to blowout win
• Superlatives from the game — big moment, stud, dud, highlight, lowlight

Published on December 20, 2016 at 11:25 am

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman