MBB : Greene goes inside, ends slide with 23 points
Consider Donte Greene’s performance Saturday a response to his critics.
Despite not having scored in double-figures in three of the past five games, Greene broke out of his funk in SU’s 82-77 loss to Pittsburgh. He scored 23 points, the most he’s tallied since the Orange’s win over Providence on Jan. 27.
Eighteen of those points came in a torrid second-half performance in which Greene played his best basketball since the start of the Big East schedule. Greene went 8-for-12 from the field in the half and showcased the inside game and assertiveness he had lacked at times this year.
‘I’m kind of designated to being the shooter,’ Greene said. ‘I feel like I can bring it. I have the total package, and I showed everybody I’m not in a slump or whatever you want to call it.’
Greene’s outburst coincided with a 14-2 SU run over a five-minute span to take a 70-59 lead with 5:54 remaining. Greene had seven of those 14 points, including the first five points of the run.
Most of his baskets came inside, with Greene finally willing to play physical down low rather than settle for fade-away jump shots.
‘It wasn’t really a slump, his confidence level was low,’ SU point guard Jonny Flynn said. ‘You see him today coming out, attacking the basket, taking a nice jump shot. When he can attack the basket, he can open up a lot of things for us.’
Of course, Greene’s half wasn’t perfect. He failed to score in the final 6:25 of the game. Like the rest of the SU offense, Greene’s game stagnated while the Panthers made their furious comeback.
Still, the Orange will no doubt be hoping to see more of what they saw Saturday from Greene in the little season that’s left.
‘I feel like that’s the game I should have been playing all year,’ Greene said.
Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon has seen Syracuse’s 2-3 zone enough to know its weaknesses.
With the Orange’s zone expanded to deny jump shots, Dixon saw the chance for his team to hit the offensive glass.
‘We thought to beat Syracuse, you have to get second-chance shots,’ Dixon said. ‘They’re going to make you shoot outside shots, they’re going to make you shoot 3’s. You gotta get second shots, and that’s something we emphasized.’
Dixon’s gameplan worked, as the Panthers pulled down 12 offensive boards, compared to just four for the Orange. Pitt rode that advantage to a 32-26 rebounding edge.
Pittsburgh’s rebounding – combined with SU’s 12 first-half turnovers – helped the Panthers keep the game close during a first half in which Syracuse shot 59.1 percent (almost 17 percentage points better than the Panthers). Pitt had eight second-chance points in the first half, compared to just one for the Orange.
But even considering Pittsburgh’s emphasis on offensive rebounding, much of the disparity had to be chalked up to SU’s lack of positioning down low. Pitt’s leading offensive rebounder was 6-foot-2 guard Keith Benjamin, who had four boards.
Syracuse came into the game ranked third-to-last in the Big East in 3-point shooting, hitting just 32.8 percent of shots from beyond the arc.
But that didn’t stop Syracuse from hoisting 3-pointers early and often Saturday. The result was an improved shooting display from the Orange, which hit 8-of-17 3-pointers on the game (47.1 percent). Syracuse’s first three baskets came via the 3.
Most of that percentage was due to Jonny Flynn’s marksmanship. He was 6-of-10 on treys. Meanwhile the other half of Syracuse’s long-range threat, Donte Greene, was 2-of-7 on 3-pointers.
‘We shot only a couple contested 3’s,’ Flynn said. ‘A lot of our 3-pointers are usually contested. Today we got a lot of wide-open looks off of penetration and a lot of kicks out of the post. Our shot selection was way better.’
The Carrier Dome crowd was entertained during halftime by the Anti-Gravity Squad, a traveling group, which featured a trapeze artist as well as performers executing high-flying, aerial flips and maneuvers using pogo-stick type devices strapped to their legs. The squad has performed at the Olympics and on Good Morning America. … Former Syracuse center Craig Forth was in attendance and received a nice ovation from the crowd during a timeout late in the second half. Forth was the starting center during SU’s 2002-03 national championship season.
Published on March 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm
