Boeheim glanced down at the stat sheet, a perplexed look stretched across his face. It showed only three shot attempts for Michael Carter-Williams, Boeheim’s star point guard, which, on most nights this season, would be disastrous for a team that relies heavily on its perimeter players.

But on Monday that number was more than fine, as Carter-Williams played an outstanding floor game to lead No. 9 Syracuse to a 63-47 win against No. 25 Notre Dame in the Carrier Dome. Eight assists backed up his five points — the most assists he’s had in more than a month — and were offset by just a single turnover. It was a perfect balance on a night when the Orange’s trio of forwards picked up the scoring slack.

And with Triche, Carter-Williams’ backcourt partner, struggling as well, it was an encouraging sign for Syracuse.

“I think he was good at getting the ball to people,” Boeheim said. “That was just kind of the circumstances.”

He began the game by running the same play twice in a row to start the game, producing a total of four points on two field goals. First, he set up Grant for a short jumper, and then fed Rakeem Christmas for an isolation play on the low block. They both scored, giving Syracuse a 4-0 lead, and went on to combine for 26 points two days after managing only five points in a loss to Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, neither Triche nor Carter-Williams reached double figures for the second time all season.

“It’s good to win with those two guys not being able to score,” Boeheim said. “You’ve got to get three guys, pretty much, that are going to score for you. We got three guys to score for us tonight, which is how you win these things, I think.”

But as he has done all season, Carter-Williams burst through with one of the most important baskets of the game. Notre Dame had pulled within 10 at 45-35 with less than seven minutes remaining, but Carter-Williams stepped confidently into a 3-pointer from the top of the key that swished home.

It was his only field goal of the game.

“He hit if not the biggest shot of the game, one of them,” Boeheim said. “That 3 I thought was a really big shot at that point in time.”

Published on February 5, 2013 at 12:58 am

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13