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Arinze Onuaku dropped in the first basket for the Orange just fourteen seconds
into the game, but Rutgers was not going to lie down for the ‘Cuse. The Scarlet Knights took a 9-4 lead a little
more than two minutes into the game after a three from freshman guard Mike Rosario. Syracuse chipped at the lead
over the next few minutes and a jumper from Kris Joseph gave the Orange an
18-17 lead.
But
with the score knotted at twenty, Rutgers put together a 7-0 scoring run which
was ignited by a fastbreak layup from Rosario.
Again, the Orange slowly worked the deficit down by going inside to
Onuaku. Then with less than two minutes
remaining, point guard Jonny Flynn drained a shot from beyond the arc to tie
the game at 37 all.
Syracuse
went into the break with a 39-38 lead mainly due to Onuaku and junior Paul Harris. Both players had 11 first-half points
and went 5-of-6 from the floor. But SU
could not get defensive stops when it needed to. And when the Orange did force a bad shot, it
was unable to secure the defensive rebound.
Rutgers stayed close after outrebounding Syracuse 21-10, while Mike
Rosario led all scorers with 12 points.
The
second half though would be much different, much to the chagrin of the Scarlet
Knights. Baskets by Onuaku and Harris to
open the second period of play pushed SU’s advantage to five. For the next five minutes or so Syracuse’s
lead fluctuated between two and six points.
But with 12:33 left on the clock, the highlight of the game swung the
momentum into the Orange’s favor.
Flynn
drove down the lane with the ball and leapt right over Rosario and threw down a
thunderous dunk to the delight of many SU fans that made the trip to
Piscataway, NJ. Rutgers coach Fred Hill
was assessed a technical foul after arguing that Flynn should have been charged
with an offensive foul. SU never looked
back after Flynn’s roof-rattling jam.
Over
a ten minute period starting at the 15:33 mark and ending with 5:43 left in the
game, the Orange connected on twelve consecutive field goal attempts. By the time the streak ended, Syracuse was up
71-59 and really sucked the life out of Rutgers. The Orange did not let the Scarlet Knights
creep back into the game and extended its lead to stay perfect in conference
play.
Some
other observations from Syracuse’s 82-66 win over Rutgers:
·
The
Orange absolutely dominated inside which led to easy baskets and 69 percent
shooting in the second half. Not that SU
shot poorly in first half though connecting at almost 55 percent. Syracuse is ranked 7th in the NCAA
in field goal percentage shooting at a 50 percent clip. That run of 12 made baskets was incredible
and it shows how lethal this team is. SU
scored 82 points and only made 2-of-6 shots from long range.
·
Rutgers
stuck around in the first half because it made 50 percent of its shots. But the Orange defense clamped down and held
the Scarlet Knights to 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) shooting in the final 20 minutes. After scoring 12 in the first half, Rosario
was held in check and finished with 17 points hitting on only 6-of-22 field
goals for the game.
·
For
Syracuse, Andy Rautins only hit one trey, but two early fouls kept him on the
bench in the first half. It didn’t
matter though as the Orange put four players in double-figures, including a
season-high 26 point effort from Harris.
The junior forward made 11 of his 13 shots. Guess the right hand is okay. Onuaku played very well too, finishing with
19 points and giving SU a strong inside presence. Guards Eric Devendorf and Flynn each had 15
points. Flynn led the Orange in
rebounding with 7 caroms and dished out 9 assists without turning the ball over
once. The sophomore returned to form in
tonight’s game, a good sign heading into the toughest part of the schedule.
·
With
the win, head coach Jim Boeheim passed Lefty Driesell for eighth on the
all-time wins list in Division I with 787 career victories.
Syracuse
(16-1, 4-0 Big East) and ranked 9/11 goes on the road to face hated rival
Georgetown on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The
game will be televised on ESPN2.