NEW YORK — Now that Syracuse has faced a power-conference opponent, the Tyler Ennis comparisons have truly begun for Kaleb Joseph.

When Kaleb Joseph turned the ball over with a poor entry pass to the block, posts on Twitter pointed out that Ennis rarely made that mistake. And when Jim Boeheim spoke of Joseph’s start to his Syracuse career, the head coach put his inconsistency in moderation.

“We got spoiled last year,” Boeheim said of Ennis. “We had an unusual freshman point guard. They don’t come around … Maybe (once in) a coach’s career that you get a freshman that can play with that kind of understanding of the game.”

Joseph, SU’s fourth starting point guard in as many years, tied with junior Michael Gbinije for the team lead with 13 points on Thursday night, but also committed four turnovers to three assists. Behind his inconsistent play, the Orange’s offense sputtered to a 73-59 loss to California (3-0) at Madison Square Garden.

The freshman’s progression continues Friday at 5 p.m. when No. 23 Syracuse (2-1) takes on Iowa (2-1) in the third-place game of the 2K Classic in New York City.

“I think as bad as some of Kaleb’s decisions were tonight, he does have the potential to be able to score, so we have to keep working with him,” Boeheim said. “I thought he bounced back at the end, was trying to get something accomplished but it’s going to take a while with him, I think, to get him where we need him to be.”

Boeheim said it’s a “difficult” experience playing in Madison Square Garden for the first time, and that showed in Joseph’s play.

The point guard found senior Rakeem Christmas for an alley-oop on the game’s opening possession, but turned the ball over looking for freshman Chris McCullough, missed a wide-open floater in the lane and air-balled a deep jumper after. An entry pass to Christmas in the post was too low and bounced out of bounds.

Still, Joseph ended the first half on a strong note by finding Trevor Cooney for a spot-up 3 that knotted the score at 17. The point guard channeled that momentum as a scorer in the second half, netting all 13 of his points in the final 20 minutes, but his execution as a facilitator was still streaky.

Twice, Joseph had nowhere to go with the ball when he picked up his dribble and California pounced on the turnover opportunity while it pulled away.

“Kaleb’s a very good freshman point guard, very talented,” Boeheim said. “But he’s got a lot to learn about the game and none of this is going to happen not only by tomorrow, it’s not going to happen by next week or two weeks after that.”

Published on November 21, 2014 at 4:03 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb