DaJuan Coleman registered 15 points in his return Monday night.
Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski
Coleman Makes His Comeback
11/2/2015 9:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y.- As senior center DaJuan Coleman walked off the court with 1:48 left in Monday night's exhibition contest, the Syracuse faithful stood up from their seats and applauded his effort.
Coleman sat out the entire 2014-15 campaign and returned to the Orange lineup against Le Moyne in the team's first taste of action this year. The senior center posted 15 points and seven rebounds, guiding Syracuse to a 97-58 win over the Dolphins.
"I've been waiting a long time for this," Coleman said. "It felt real good to see some of my hard work pay off. I just really wanted to get out there and give the fans what they came to see."
After sitting out more than a year with an injury, Coleman was slow to get out of the gate, but he turned it around in the second half. The Jamesville, N.Y. native tabbed only two points in the first half before scoring 13 points in the second. As Syracuse continued to spread the floor with its three-point shooting, Coleman made his presence known on the interior off the offensive glass.
"With the team taking a lot of threes, that becomes my opportunity to be real aggressive on the offensive rebounds," Coleman said. "I think I did a much better job in the second half of doing that. My main focus was defense and being aggressive on the offensive rebounds."
Coleman finished with four offensive rebounds in the contest, helping Syracuse finish with 25 second-chance points compared to only two from Le Moyne. Partly due to the work of Coleman at the center position, the Orange finished with 42 points inside the paint while the Dolphins only had 14.
"It was really good, not playing for two years, DaJuan [Cook] was exceptionally good," head coach Jim Boeheim said. "He's getting up and down the court fine, obviously this was not a tremendously fast paced game, but he got up and down fine. I thought he did some really good things for his first time back."
Coleman and the Orange will be back in action at the Carrier Dome for their final exhibition game on Sunday, Nov. 8 against Florida Southern at 2 p.m.
Coleman sat out the entire 2014-15 campaign and returned to the Orange lineup against Le Moyne in the team's first taste of action this year. The senior center posted 15 points and seven rebounds, guiding Syracuse to a 97-58 win over the Dolphins.
"I've been waiting a long time for this," Coleman said. "It felt real good to see some of my hard work pay off. I just really wanted to get out there and give the fans what they came to see."
After sitting out more than a year with an injury, Coleman was slow to get out of the gate, but he turned it around in the second half. The Jamesville, N.Y. native tabbed only two points in the first half before scoring 13 points in the second. As Syracuse continued to spread the floor with its three-point shooting, Coleman made his presence known on the interior off the offensive glass.
"With the team taking a lot of threes, that becomes my opportunity to be real aggressive on the offensive rebounds," Coleman said. "I think I did a much better job in the second half of doing that. My main focus was defense and being aggressive on the offensive rebounds."
Coleman finished with four offensive rebounds in the contest, helping Syracuse finish with 25 second-chance points compared to only two from Le Moyne. Partly due to the work of Coleman at the center position, the Orange finished with 42 points inside the paint while the Dolphins only had 14.
"It was really good, not playing for two years, DaJuan [Cook] was exceptionally good," head coach Jim Boeheim said. "He's getting up and down the court fine, obviously this was not a tremendously fast paced game, but he got up and down fine. I thought he did some really good things for his first time back."
Coleman and the Orange will be back in action at the Carrier Dome for their final exhibition game on Sunday, Nov. 8 against Florida Southern at 2 p.m.
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