Easy riders: Despite pressure on road, Orange remains undefeated, unfazed away from home court
With one dunk, the Verizon Center exploded to a fever pitch. This was Syracuse’s breaking point.
Austin Freeman tore through the lane, Arinze Onuaku ducked out of the way and the Georgetown forward threw down a one-handed jam. The legendary John Thompson Jr., sipping on a Starbucks coffee, nodded in approval underneath the basket. Freeman screamed. And the Hoyas cut an insurmountable deficit to two points.
The Orange should have panicked, but like it has all season, No. 4 Syracuse (25-2, 12-2 Big East) weathered the storm. SU made enough plays in the clutch to win, 75-71, and deflected yet another late onslaught from an opponent. Heading into tonight’s game at Providence (12-14, 4-10 Big East), SU remains unblemished on the road. Poise away from home may be the single biggest reason Syracuse stands alone atop the Big East.
When Thursday’s foul crisis arose – Syracuse’s entire starting frontcourt flirted with foul trouble – head coach Jim Boeheim recalibrated a sense of calm in the huddle.
‘This isn’t his first rodeo,’ assistant coach Mike Hopkins said of Boeheim. ‘He told our guys, ‘Relax, you’re good. You’re playing the game. The crowd is forcing you to drive and forcing you to do this.’ We just had to relax and get some movement.’
From surviving a firestorm of 3-pointers in West Virginia back in January to Thursday’s escape, the Orange has yet to appear jet-lagged on the road. Much like that 72-71 win over the Mountaineers, Syracuse withstood a late-game blizzard in D.C.
Rather than wallow in the foul trouble, senior Andy Rautins said this year’s team has a knack for staying calm. When Onuaku and Rick Jackson were both exiled to the bench in foul trouble, both picking up their fifth fouls on questionable calls, players didn’t tweak into fright.
They expect bad news on the road. They cope with it.
‘There weren’t too many friendly calls our way, but we had to deal with that,’ Rautins said. ‘You have to expect that on the road.’
Still, in turn, a weakness was exposed. The Hoyas may have provided a blueprint for future teams – get SU’s bigs in foul trouble. Without an interior presence, Syracuse was victimized by Greg Monroe. The Hoyas center muscled his team back into the game, nearly erasing the huge lead.
Looking ahead, Hopkins said he isn’t concerned about the Orange’s lack of frontcourt depth. He doesn’t see many other overbearing forwards across the country that’d burn his team down low.
‘If you look at college basketball, how many teams have great low-post guys? There’s not a lot,’ Hopkins said. ‘We’ve done a good job all year of trying to play position on defense. We played physical tonight, which is a good thing, too. We put ourselves in situations where you could take back a foul here or a foul there, but I thought for the most part Rick (Jackson) and A.O. (Onuaku) played really smart when they weren’t in foul trouble.’
Tonight provides a quick test to that logic. Providence boasts a poor man’s Monroe in Jamine Peterson. A scavenger around the rim, Peterson is averaging 18.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. And albeit briefly, he did give Syracuse a scare at the Carrier Dome earlier this season. Before the Orange pulled away in the second half, Peterson (25 points) was a nuisance on the offensive glass.
Though he lacks Monroe’s mass, the 6-foot-6 sophomore thrives on hustle plays.
For SU to maintain its road success, Onuaku and Jackson must stay out of foul trouble and track down Peterson. Thursday was easily Onuaku’s worst game of the season. Half the reason he only played 13 minutes against Georgetown was the foul trouble. Half the reason was sloppy play.
Often the recipient of Boeheim’s wrath, this was far from a joyous homecoming to the greater D.C. area for Onuaku. In addition to getting posterized by Freeman, he recorded only two points and two rebounds.
‘Arinze just wasn’t getting it done,’ Boeheim said. ‘He started the second half with two easy attempts and didn’t get anything accomplished. … Arinze’s been playing better. He just struggled tonight, he just struggled. We need him to play better. There’s no question about that.’
Still, as it has all year long, Syracuse found ways to compensate. Boeheim leaned on Rautins’ hot hand and Kris Joseph’s clutch buckets. All season, that’s been the theme, and that’s been the reason SU has remained undefeated on the road.
A refusal to perish in crunch time.
‘We find ways to win,’ Rautins said after beating Georgetown, ‘and we did that down the stretch.’
Published on February 22, 2010 at 12:00 pm
