Syracuse (12-6, 1-4 Atlantic Coast) gets set to play Pittsburgh (8-10, 0-5) on Tuesday night in the Carrier Dome. On Monday, Jim Boeheim went on the ACC coaches teleconference to discuss the recent stretch for the Orange.

Here are three things he said.

Syracuse needs its best players to play the whole game in order to win

The top three players in the ACC in minutes played per game are Tyus Battle (38.3), Oshae Brissett (37.9) and Frank Howard (37.4). Because of Saturday’s double-overtime loss to Florida State, Battle (41.2) and Brissett (40.2) are actually averaging more than 40 minutes per game in conference games. Howard would have, had he not fouled out.

Despite the heavy workload, Boeheim thinks that the Orange needs to keep running those three players out there consistently.

“It’s the only way we can win,” he said. “They’ve played well in those games even though they’re playing the whole game. I don’t like playing guys that many minutes, but most of the best players in this league play 36 minutes. They’re playing a little bit more than that.”

Paschal Chukwu is improving, but can still be better on offense

Boeheim often mentions that Chukwu hasn’t really played before this season. He averaged just 10 minutes a game in the 2014-2015 season for Providence and then sat out a year due to transfer rules. Last season he played in part of just seven games before going down for the year with an eye injury.

With Bourama Sidibe’s knee at less than 100 percent, Chukwu has been thrown into a larger role. He’s gone from averaging 25.3 minutes in nonconference play to 32.8 minutes in ACC games.

Boeheim feels that Chukwu has made strides anchoring the defense, but that there can still be ways to have him more involved on offense.

“I think he’s definitely getting better,” Boeheim said. “His presence on defense is very important for us.

“I think he’s getting better at the offensive end,” he added. “We need to get him to move into better offensive opportunities where we can get him the ball in offensive situations. But he’s definitely getting better.”

Syracuse needs to limit its turnovers

It’s no secret that the Orange offense has struggled this year. Something that’s impacted that is Syracuse’s poor ball security.

SU averages 13.3 turnovers per game, the fourth-worst mark in the ACC. The team’s 0.85 assist-to-turnover ratio is the worst in the conference.

“We’re turning it a little bit over too much as a team,” Boeheim said.

Boeheim responded to a question asked specifically about Tyus Battle. Even though Battle poured in a career-high 37 points in Saturday’s loss to FSU, he also had five turnovers and no assists. Battle has shown the ability to create for teammates, but on the season he has just 25 assists to 44 turnovers.

“(Battle) doesn’t have anybody to throw the ball to on the perimeter that shoots,” Boeheim said. “Everyone gets around the basket when he drives so its difficult to get the ball to somebody in the lane like that.”

Published on January 15, 2018 at 12:42 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer