DaJuan Coleman sat out the entire second half and played a season-low six minutes with what Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim called a knee injury.

“His knee’s been bothering him a little bit,” Boeheim said. “I didn’t want to push it.”

Coleman barely grazed the court, and was invisible when he was on it. While he sat on the bench, Baye Moussa Keita turned in one of his best performances of the season.

With Villanova’s quickness, Coleman became less of a force in the paint. The 6-foot-9, 280-pound forward played his best games this season against St. Francis (Brooklyn) and Binghamton, both of whom are slow, unathletic teams.

Villanova, though, is speedy from top to bottom. Even its big men – JayVaughn Pinkston and Daniel Ochefu – are fast. Pinkston’s only 6 feet, 7 inches, so Boeheim thought it would be better to play Keita, who’s more nimble on his feet.

Boeheim insisted there was nothing more to it – just the minor injury and the matchup.

“That’s all it was,” Boeheim said.