Jim Boeheim has never had the luxury of a 7-foot-2 tower patrolling the middle of the 2-3 zone.

Paschal Chukwu will surely give Syracuse a dimension its fans have rarely seen, if ever, when it comes to altering and blocking shots around the rim. But if the Orange is hoping for any substantial offensive production from the program’s tallest player ever, it will have to wait.

In two exhibitions, Chukwu tallied four points on 2-of-5 shooting, one of those buckets coming via an alley-oop dunk. The Providence transfer has, in 37 total minutes, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots. For now, a defensive stalwart is all Chukwu seems to be for No. 19 Syracuse ahead of its season opener with Colgate on Friday night in the Carrier Dome.

“He’s not ready offensively,” Boeheim said after Syracuse’s 97-64 exhibition win over Le Moyne on Tuesday. “We need to get him rolling to the basket, get him around the basket. He needs to get some offensive rebound situations. They really haven’t been there that much for him.”

At a preseason practice last year, Boeheim scolded the redshirt sophomore for bringing the ball below his neck after receiving it near the basket, but that tone from the head coach seemed to be in the past as this season approached. At media day, Boeheim praised Chukwu for vastly improving his finishing around the rim.

Chukwu texted assistant coach Mike Hopkins throughout the summer when he wanted to get offensive work in at the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center. Chukwu worked on finishing near the basket, absorbing blows from an orange pad after coming down with a rebound and trying to put it back despite the contact.

“I think Hop really helped me a lot,” Chukwu said. “I owe him a lot for that. He really worked with me on my offensive game.”

With SU’s regular season opener approaching, there’s more to be done than what’s been accomplished already. Chukwu barely played offense in high school and was only used for defensive purposes during his freshman season at Providence.

Courtesy of Leo Redgate

Until now, Chukwu’s upper-body strength hasn’t lent itself to bruising with other bigs in the low post. Offseason hours in the weight room remedied that, and now the actual basketball part needs to fill in the blanks.

“I think the biggest changes I’ve seen is all summer,” said graduate assistant Katie Kolinski, who works with the centers, “he got to work out with (trainer) Ryan (Cabiles) and he’s just bigger physically.”

On Tuesday, Tyler Lydon lobbed an entry pass to Chukwu in the low post. He was quickly double-teamed by two much smaller Le Moyne defenders and quickly flung a pass out to Andrew White. White hit a 3 from the top of the key for three of his game-high 24 points and Chukwu’s only assist of the preseason.

That’s a start, but Chukwu won’t factor significantly aside from grabbing offensive rebounds against teams that live on the outside. What he’s needed for — his defense — won’t come into play if opponents don’t take the ball at him.

So for now, bits and pieces of offensive contributions here and there are all Syracuse can reasonably expect.

“It won’t be there this year,” Boeheim said. “Not happening this year. Don’t be waiting for that.”

Published on November 11, 2016 at 2:32 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman