WASHINGTON — Plagued by a sinus infection, Baye Moussa Keita struggled to breathe. The 6-foot-10 center could do little to help his Syracuse team as he battled the illness down the stretch of the regular season.

His energy – the part of Keita’s game that fuels the hustle play he’s known for and the part on which he prides himself – simply wasn’t there.

“He was taking an inhaler, and those types of things wear you down,” SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. “When he has his energy, he’s as live as anybody at that position that we have.”

Keita’s made it clear during the Orange’s postseason run through the Big East and NCAA tournaments. He’s averaging 8.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in Syracuse’s last four games, well above his season averages of 3.8 and 3.8 per game, respectively.

Keita and frontcourt mate Rakeem Christmas will face their biggest challenge of the season Thursday at 9:45 p.m., matching up with All-American Indiana big man Cody Zeller when the top-seeded Hoosiers and fourth-seeded Orange take the Verizon Center floor.

His breakout stretch dates back to his performance against Georgetown in the conference tournament semifinals, when he scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and went a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line to spark his team to victory. It continued with an 11-point, seven-rebound game to help SU dispatch California 66-60 in the third round, and advance to the Sweet 16 in the East Regional in Washington, D.C.

Hopkins said Keita is up for the challenge against Zeller. Keita’s always been a good player, Hopkins said, but he’s playing at a different level now.

His energy is back.

“Even when he had two points and three rebounds, people looked at the stats and said he must have not done much,” Hopkins said, “but you always felt it when he impacted the game.

“Now that he’s scoring a little bit, everybody’s like, ‘Wow,’” Hopkins continued, drawing it out for emphasis. “‘What’s going on?’”

For Keita, his increased production is no mystery. It’s not a surprise to him, either. Head coach Jim Boeheim often voiced his frustration with SU’s ineptitude at the center position – the issue he said would determine how good this Syracuse team could be.

Early in March, Boeheim said rebounding wasn’t up to par and layups weren’t even a guarantee. His centers needed to do more.

Enter Keita.

The reserve center logged a season-high 41 minutes against Georgetown in Madison Square Garden, injecting life into SU in the second half, cleaning up on the break, finishing inside and knocking down free throw after free throw as Syracuse avenged a pair of regular-season losses against the Hoyas.

Often an afterthought offensively, Keita was suddenly a threat for point guard Michael Carter-Williams and the Orange. Now he exudes confidence.

“Every time that I’m open, I’m going to be like a target for him,” Keita said. “He’s going to get me the ball because he knows when I step on the line, I’m going to make the free throws or I’m just going to get two points out of it.”

Keita’s gone 18-for-24 (75 percent) from the free-throw line in the four-game stretch after shooting 49 percent from the stripe the rest of the season. He credits a more deliberate routine and Hopkins, who helped slightly tweak his form, for the dramatic improvement.

It has shown in the box scores during Syracuse’s run. After scoring 13 points against the Hoyas, Keita chipped in with eight points in a tough matchup against Louisville’s 6-foot-11 shot-blocker Gorgui Dieng, plus 11 more against Cal.

But as Hopkins said, the box score doesn’t paint the whole picture with Keita. His game is about energy – playing defense, battling on the boards and making hustle plays. All will be crucial against Indiana, especially Zeller.

“He’s an active defender,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “He takes challenges on defense. He’s one of our best big men defenders, so I think either Baye or Rak, either one, they’re all up for the challenge.”

Keita knows all about Zeller. He called him one of the best big men in the country. Hopkins does too. He highlighted Zeller as the biggest matchup for Syracuse heading into the game.

But Keita isn’t awestruck by the All-American. He said he’s going to play with energy and stay active at all times.

With his bout of sickness behind him, Keita’s ready to do exactly that when his number is called Thursday night.

“Sometimes, the energy’s there, but I have to go inside and pick it up,” Keita said. “When I’m going, I just try to push everybody to play hard, and that’s been helping us.”

Published on March 27, 2013 at 7:42 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu