So much of James Southerland’s season was defined by his knockdown shooting from the 3-point line. Once he finds his rhythm, his shots keep falling. On Wednesday, that rhythm eluded him for most of the 35 minutes he was on the floor. But with Syracuse struggling offensively he had to find a way to score.

He abandoned his outside game and went inside. He crashed the boards for second-chance points. He put on a free-throw shooting clinic.

In his final game in the Carrier Dome, Southerland shot only 5-of-18 from the field and 1-of-10 from the arc, yet still managed to rack up 22 points in No. 17 Syracuse’s (23-7, 11-6 Big East) 78-57 win over DePaul (11-19, 2-15). He hit all 11 of his free-throw attempts and grabbed 10 rebounds – six on the offensive glass – to notch his first career double-double.

“James got every shot we would like him to get,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “I thought he went back inside and got rebounds and did some physical things I thought were good.”

For the first time all year and only the third time in his four seasons at Syracuse, Southerland was in Syracuse’s starting lineup. Boeheim said it had nothing to do with it being Senior Night. Jerami Grant, who had been starting at small forward since Feb. 2, has struggled, and Boeheim decided to move him back to his original role of coming off of the bench. He replaced him with Southerland.

Southerland hit his first shot, a jumper from the right wing that tied the game at six. Less than a minute later, he drained a 3-pointer from the left wing. That about ended his outside success.

He lost his stroke. At one point, he missed two 3s in the span of 10 seconds. Boeheim told Southerland something he wouldn’t normally tell him.

“Normally, I would tell him to keep shooting, but he was off rhythm,” Boeheim said. “He was not coming close. It was, ‘Let’s try to get inside.’”

It wasn’t like Boeheim could take Southerland out of the game. Syracuse’s guards were struggling to hit outside shots, and having Southerland in the game stretches out the defense and opens up the middle. Boeheim said even when Southerland’s not shooting well, defenses still guard him, since he can get hot at any time.

He didn’t Wednesday. Instead, Southerland went to work on the offensive glass. Late in the first half, Southerland missed a 3-pointer, but got the rebound. He missed the putback, and got the rebound again. He repeated the process.

This time, he made the putback, drew a foul from Jamee Crockett and converted the three-point play. In a game in which he couldn’t get anything going from the perimeter, Southerland’s aggressiveness inside and scrappiness on the boards paid major dividends for Syracuse.

“I did a good job of attacking the boards and getting my missed shots, especially in the first half,” Southerland said. “After a while, just crashing and going after everything just helps us as a team.”

Half of Southerland’s points, though, came from the free-throw line, a place that had been foreign to him for most of the season.

In the second half Wednesday, Southerland took 10 free throws and hit them all, finishing with 11 on the night. Coming into the game, Southerland took only 12 free throws in Big East play and 33 for the whole season.

“You could tell James, he wanted to have a good night,” forward C.J. Fair said. “He was being very aggressive. I mean, that’s something we need out of him. I was proud of him, the game he had in his last game here in the Dome.”

Southerland electrified the crowd with about 7:26 left when he took a feed from Brandon Triche and slammed it through the basket for a dunk for two more inside points.

About four minutes later, Southerland missed a jumper. Again, he got his own rebound and drew a foul from Montray Clemons. Southerland stepped to the line and hit both free throws – seemingly a foregone conclusion.

Right after hitting the second one, Boeheim took him out and subbed in Grant. The crowd gave Southerland a standing ovation, and he walked to the baseline and saluted the student section.

Southerland’s outside shots were off the mark, but it didn’t matter. He was still a nightmare for the Blue Demons’ defense.

Said Southerland: “When the shots weren’t falling, you’ve just got to attack.”

Published on March 7, 2013 at 12:16 am

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman