PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Dajuan Coleman backed a defender down off the dribble in the post with 10 minutes left in the first half of Syracuse’s Battle 4 Atlantis Championship game on Friday. He laid the ball up and in and it looked easy.

Very little has been easy for the center over the last two injury-plagued seasons.

“I think Dajuan’s performance down here was very encouraging,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s limited but he’s doing some things, very positive things for us. I think he’s going to be very important for us.”

In his three games in the Bahamas over just three days, Coleman averaged 17.3 minutes as opposed to just 12.3 over the season’s first three games. He also recorded 21 of his 28 total rebounds during the latter three games. He said he feels healthy and is showing slow but steady improvement as the newly minted No. 14 Orange (6-0) gets set to host Wisconsin (4-3) in the Atlantic Coast Conference-Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday.

“I feel good,” Coleman said after the Texas A&M win. “If I could, I would play tomorrow.”

Coleman hasn’t been limited in practice, Boeheim said, but is slightly in his conditioning. When he’s needed a break or has gotten into foul trouble, Tyler Lydon has moved over into the center position. Chinonso Obokoh had taken some minutes at the five, but was completely out of the rotation as the Orange played two ranked teams in the Bahamas.

The oft-injured big man has gotten into foul trouble very quickly, picking up four in each of the last four games this season. He said he’s working to improve on positioning in helping to limit the smaller ticky-tack fouls that have plagued him.

It’s a work in progress, as most things are for Coleman. But it’s coming along.

“It’s definitely a confidence boost that I could come down here and play three games in three days,” Coleman said. “I did pretty good on defense and rebounding the ball. I’m ready just to keep working, keep getting better.”

Published on December 1, 2015 at 10:56 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3