Syracuse Finally Wins on the Road

Syracuse gets 22 points from Arinze Onuaku in the second Syracuse-Depaul seesaw battle in two nights. The ladies last night pulled out a 69-66, but tonight the men also took down the Blue Demons 60-55.

Syracuse avoided an upset in a crazy night of upsets. Vanderbilt, Kansas, Mississippi State, West Virginia all lost, and Texas was well on their way to losing to Texas A&M.

Syracuse's lead got above three points for the first time all game with three minutes left, 54-49. From there, they held DePaul and hit their free throws to seal the game for their first road win in the Big East.

Syracuse won despite terrible offensive performances from Donte' Greene and Jonny Flynn. The two combined for 20 points on seven of 26 shooting from the field, and 1-11 from three. Greene's one three was the only three pointer for Syracuse all game.

The Orange win another close, low scoring game with clutch defense down the stretch. I wrote at some point, that to be a serious title contender you need to be at least top 50 in the country in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Syracuse is quickly reaching that mark. They have been going backwards slightly in offensive efficiency and tonight didn't help, but they are still top 50. The defense has been moving up quickly. They were hanging around 90th-100th all year until now. They are currently 58th and with today's stellar performance they should jump up to around 50th.

I know this team doesn't have any depth and can get trigger happy, but what they are starting to do is quite remarkable. They may be only 5-4 in the Big East, but they are clearly playing their best basketball of the season at the right time. Assuming no one else goes down, they are only going to get better offensively as they gain chemistry with the different players getting more playing time like Scoop Jardine, Kristof! and Rick Jackson. The defense has been very solid and will continue to improve.

But back to the game, Syracuse forced DePaul into a lot of bad shots that at first the Blue Demons were hitting, but after about the first 12 minutes, the shots stopped falling. Draelon Burns and Will Walker got off to very quick starts, but soon cooled off and were cold by the second half.

Syracuse did some things extremely well. First, they got to the free throw and hit their shots. I'll take 15-19 anytime. They also stayed out of foul trouble. The first half no one picked up quick, cheap fouls that forced anyone to the bench. The second half Donte' Greene had a couple bad fouls that forced him out with ten minutes remaining, but was soon able to get back into the game. The Orange also hustled all game. The 'Cuse went after loose balls and made heads up plays all game.

Arinze Onuaku tore apart the DePaul front court. He could do anything he wanted all game. He went 10-13 from the field for 22 points. Another monster game for the S.U. center.

S.U. also did some things pretty poorly. They still can't set screens. That was evident late when Greene had to burn a timeout because no one could get open off screens. They also didn't crash the boards too well. DePaul got too many open looks. They only got credited for 14 rebounds, but it seemed like a lot more considering there was at least two possessions where they got at least two or three offensive rebounds in a row. They limited DePaul from the free throw line. The Blue Demons got to the strip just four times the entire game.

One last note, Jabari Currie for DePaul is this team's Josh Wright. He seems like an automatic turnover machine. Last year in the Dome, he flipped off the student section for making fun of his baldness and then went out and complied these numbers: 22 minutes, 0-3 shooting, 1-2 free throws, five turnovers, four assists, was blocked twice and a rebound.

Today good old Currie recorded nine minutes, no points, got blocked once, and made a couple passes that lead to turnovers.

Overall it was a huge win that puts Syracuse at 15-7 and 5-4 in the Big East. Syracuse moved up to 35th in the RPI and tied for seventh in the conference. Considering eight to nine teams will get in from the Big East, Syracuse should definitely should be in.