On Monday against Notre Dame, it was C.J. Fair who was human. When Syracuse hosted Clemson on Sunday, it was Tyler Ennis.

“Once in a while,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said, “he needs to show that he’s human and have a bad game.”

The Tigers managed to hold the star freshman to just six points on 3-of-11 shooting. He still led the No. 1 Orange with five assists in its 57-44 win on Sunday in the Carrier Dome, but he wasn’t the dominant point guard that teammates and coaches have grown used to — not that he needed to be.

Ennis scored a bucket early in the game, but vanished for most of the first half. He limited his shots — essentially only forcing up shots when the shot clock was winding down — but he wasn’t threading his pinpoint passes through the defense like he usually does, either.

Sunday marked the second straight game that he was held to single digits, but neither time mattered. Syracuse has enough other playmakers that can step up and run the offense.

“When we can run our offense through C.J. (Fair) when he’s hitting and then have Jerami (Grant), Rak (Christmas), Trevor (Cooney) and whoever else is able to score out there, it makes it so much easier,” Ennis said.

But once again, Ennis emerged at the end of the game — although this time that outcome was essentially decided.

He made a layup with less than seven minutes remaining to cap a 6-0 run and extend the Orange’s lead to 48-37.

Four minutes later, he hit another layup. And two minutes after that, SU emptied its bench.

“We didn’t play great offensively in the second half, but we made big plays when we had to,” Boeheim said. “That’s what this team is all about. We are aware that these next coming games are hard and will keep working and getting better toward the end of the year.”

Published on February 10, 2014 at 12:30 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2