After Michael Gbinije gave his assessment of freshman Kaleb Joseph, he paused to think before giving his opinion of rookie Chris McCullough’s night.

“I thought he did a good job pushing the ball,” Gbinije said of Joseph before smiling to add, “and Chris, I think he did a good job offensive rebounding.”

The Syracuse forward only had two offensive rebounds, and one came off his own missed layup — and was followed up with another point-blank miss.

While the Orange (7-4) cruised to a 78-43 win over Colgate (3-9) on Monday night in the Carrier Dome, it did so with minimal offensive contributions from its freshmen starters.

Two days removed from his most impressive outing, Joseph dished out three assists but went scoreless for the first time all year with three shot attempts and a pair of turnovers. McCullough scored in single digits for the third game in a row after starting his Syracuse career with eight straight contests of 10-plus points.

Although McCullough logged three rebounds, a block and SU’s first two points during the game’s first three minutes, he was late closing out on a 3 by Colgate’s Damon Sherman-Newsome.

Meanwhile, Joseph missed a layup and a jumper and received a stern talk from head coach Jim Boeheim during a timeout for shooting so early in the shot clock.

“He’s up and down,” Boeheim said. “Freshman year is hard for a point guard.”

With the Orange ahead 8-5 at the 16:17 mark, Boeheim pulled his freshmen off the floor for Tyler Roberson and Ron Patterson, and Syracuse pieced together 13 of its 16 unanswered points while McCullough and Joseph watched from the bench.

Although the Orange didn’t commit a single turnover in the first half, two errant Joseph passes in the second fram accounted for the first two within 24 seconds of each other.

McCullough, who at 6 feet, 10 inches towered over most of the Raiders’ lineup, was bailed out by a first-half foul after misfiring on a fadeaway baseline jumper — and subsequently missed both free throws.

“As a lottery pick, I don’t know how he could possibly struggle against Colgate,” Boeheim said, once again mocking ESPN NBA Draft analyst Chad Ford’s ranking of McCullough as a lottery pick. “Just doesn’t make sense to me.

“I got a better chance of winning the lottery and I don’t buy tickets.”

The forward also whiffed badly on a midrange jumper, and later hesitated to attack the basket with nobody in front of him and got nothing but an offensive rebound out of it.

Shooting 1-of-6 Monday night, McCullough has now made just two of his last 16 shots, spanning Syracuse’s last three games. His 12 points in that duration barely surpass his 11.5 season average, while Joseph’s bumpy ride as a freshman continues as well.

Said Joseph: “It’s just a natural process. As the games go on, you learn what you can and cannot do.”

Published on December 23, 2014 at 11:51 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb