PITTSBURGH – After facing an undersized UNC Asheville squad Thursday, Syracuse’s big men will have to go up against someone their own size in the third round.

The Syracuse players haven’t seen Kansas State’s 6-foot-11 Jordan Henriquez on film yet, but James Southerland knows him well from their high school playing days. And Southerland believes Henriquez has come a long way since then.

‘He’s changed in a lot of ways,’ Southerland said. ‘He basically used to be a skinny kid. He’s still a skinny kid. He had talent, but he just never grew into it. But I feel like he’s definitely matured and he’s doing the best with his talent.’

Henriquez played the best basketball of his career toward the end of the season for Kansas State (22-10), and was a force on the inside in the Wildcats win over Southern Mississippi Thursday. On the year, the forward only averages 7.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. But in KSU’s last five contests, he’s put up 15.2 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.2 blocks per game, numbers comparable to Naismith Award frontrunner Anthony Davis of Kentucky.

SU’s (32-2) players compared him to Orange 7-footer Fab Melo and said the goal is to either pull him out of the paint or go at him when he stays inside. Melo was declared ineligible for the NCAA Tournament Tuesday, so the task of neutralizing Henriquez will be left to freshman Rakeem Christmas and sophomore Baye Keita come Saturday at 12:15 p.m at Consol Energy Center.

‘They did a good job holding down the middle (Thursday),’ Southerland said. ‘We’re definitely looking forward to them holding down the middle next game. We’ll do a good job. We’ll help them out on the glass.’

Keita and Christmas both felt they played well in Syracuse’s second-round win over UNC Asheville. They combined for 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks against the smaller Bulldogs frontcourt.

But Henriquez was dominant in the Wildcats victory Thursday. He scored 15 points, grabbed nine boards and rejected six shots against the Golden Eagles.

For him, the major difference toward the end of the year has been a change in his mindset.

‘My confidence level has gone up,’ Henriquez said. ‘You know, finding the right spots on the floor, whether it’s against man or zone, just being in my comfort zone.’

Sophomore Dion Waiters said he’d like to get Henriquez out of the paint by using the Orange bigs to set screens out top.

But Syracuse’s post players have a different mentality.

They want to see if Henriquez bites on shot fakes and plan to challenge him by attacking the rim.

‘If he blocks shots like Fab, it’s going to be a big game,’ Christmas said. ‘We’ve got to pump fake and stuff like that. Get into his body and try to draw a foul.’

Head coach Jim Boeheim believes Christmas and Keita are up to the task.

The Orange has played four games without Melo, and that duo has seen its share of talented big men, including Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates and West Virginia’s Kevin Jones and Deniz Kilicli. They also challenged Melo every day in practice, and those experiences give Boeheim faith in his frontcourt.

‘They played against good big guys,’ Boeheim said. ‘They worked in practice every day against Fab. They’ve played against guys that are big. It’s important for them to play as well as they can.’

Syracuse won’t get a look at Henriquez or the rest of the Wildcats until after practice Friday, but Southerland already knew what the Orange was up against in his former high school foe.

Christmas and Keita may be the ones battling directly with Henriquez come Saturday, but Southerland believes it will take a team effort to combat the 6-foot-11 force on the inside.

‘If we just keep an eye on him and make sure we know where he is on the rebound,’ he said, ‘and make sure we go in there as a team, we’ll be fine.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on March 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm