FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Jim Boeheim sat down at his press conference and immediately brought up the aura of Bud Walton Arena. He’s been coaching for 37 years, but Arkansas’s home court ranks among the most difficult to play in.

“This is one of the toughest buildings that I’ve seen and I’ve seen a couple,” said Boeheim, Syracuse’s head coach. “My guys are spent. They’re about as tired as they can be.”

Bud Walton Arena rocked for 40 minutes. And for 40 minutes, Arkansas’s full-court press, known as “The Fastest 40 minutes in Basketball” tested the endurance of every Syracuse player. The raucous environment combined with the Razorbacks’ relentless pressure made this an energy-zapping early-season test for the No. 6 Orange (5-0), who came away with a 91-82 win on Friday night.

Arkansas’s (3-3) full-court press was stifling, and that defensive intensity was matched by the more than 18,000 fans who packed Bud Walton Arena – the majority clad in white T-shirts in Arkansas’s effort to white-out the game. And on three separates occasions, the Razorbacks’ “called out the hogs,” where seemingly every single fan in attendance screamed “Sooie.”

“A place like that, it’s not like the Carrier Dome where you have 19,000 in a football stadium,” SU forward James Southerland said. “This was in a compact area and they were loud. They have some good fans.”

Every Arkansas basket prompted screams from the crowd. Every call against the Razorbacks brought boos pouring down on the court.

Arkansas guard BJ Young scored a transition dunk in the closing minutes of the first half, and the entire crowd jumped to its feet as Young hung on the rim. The officials then gave him a technical foul, and Southerland hit two free throws. The booing lasted for the remaining 90 seconds of the half and intensified as the officials walked off the court for the break.

“It was hard. You can see two teams very dedicated, wanting to win,” Triche said. “We loved it.”

More than the crowd, though, Syracuse had to face Arkansas’s famous, relentless defense. For most of the game, 6-foot-2 guard Mardracus Wade and the 6-foot-3 Young defended Syracuse’s 6-foot-6 point guard Michael Carter-Williams. And they challenged him all night long.

“They’re good guards. They have a lot of good guards,” Carter-Williams said. “I think we handled the pressure well. We just need to keep getting better every day and we were definitely prepared for this game and I think that showed.”

Carter-Williams committed six turnovers but they not all of them were related to the press. With just under seven minutes left in the first half, Carter-Williams tried to feed Triche for an alley-oop but he threw the ball out of bounds. He threw the ball away again later in the first half.

He made up for his mistakes by creating for his teammates. He finished with nine assists – one shy of a triple-double as he scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

“He almost had a triple-double and I’m yelling at him,” Boeheim said. “He must be pretty good.”

Both Carter-Williams and Triche did a masterful job at directing the offense and threading pinpoint passes to open teammates. SU moved the ball efficiently and scored in transition effectively.

And Triche said that if SU limited its turnovers, the win could’ve come easier.

“I think we handled their pressure pretty good as far as the full-court press,” Triche said. “I think we still had 19 turnovers and a lot of turnovers, if we had 12, we probably would’ve ended with a 15, 20-point win. I think we made it tough on ourselves.”

Boeheim said his players might’ve been tired, but they couldn’t let that slow them down. Any bit of fatigue would only make Arkansas’s press more effective. So they had to battle through the pressure and the emotions of the crowd.

While it was been draining, Carter-Williams said this was exactly the type of game he and his teammates love.

The intensity. The quickness. The electric atmosphere that lasted the whole game.

“The atmosphere was awesome. I think we all live for it,” Carter-Williams said. “We had a great time and we luckily came out with the win.”

 

Published on December 1, 2012 at 1:57 am

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman