RUTGERS/SU GAME NOTES

By Zach Smart

A wild, 60-foot buzzer-beater and an off-campus incident supposedly sparked by Eric Devendorf may have but the lone blemishes on Syracuse’s otherwise unflappable road to redemption, but the Orange are certainly back on the map.

The sense of urgency is certainly there for the Orange, which has arguably the best backcourt in the conference in Jonny Flynn and Devendorf.

The Orange have sacrificed individual totals for team harmony, unison, and the inevitable success that this selfless surrender yields way to.

The Orange trounced DePaul (8-8, 0-3 Big East) to the tune of 85-68 Wednesday night. Andy Rautins continued his hot shooting, scoring a team-high 17 points. Paul Harris and Arinze Onuaku scored 14 a piece, and Devendorf chipped in with 13. Flynn handed out a game-high eight dimes, and the Orange withstood an 18-point performance from Demon forward Dar Tucker.

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“In the first half, I thought our defense was good for long stretches,” said coach Jim Boeheim, following the beatdown.

“I thought we really helped each other and did a good job rebounding and offensively, we moved the ball. In the second half we came out a little bit like (we did against) South Florida, we made 2-3 mistakes and, you know, just couldn’t get a rhythm going on offense. Sometimes that happens when you have a lead. You still don’t want that to happen, but we made enough plays and we got an opportunity, I thought, to work on our defense. We did a lot of good things, some things I think we could have done better.”

It was the first time the Orange (15-1) sat in a man-to-man defense for an extended period, as Boeheim would add.

Paul Harris, who missed the South Florida game, looked a step behind at first but picked it up as the game progressed. He was aggressive and active, pulling down nine rebounds to supplement AO and Rick Jackson down low. Jackson, who’s beginning to flower, scored 11 points to go with six boards.

This triumvirate needs to be just as efficient against Rutgers, which has upgraded their frontline with Gregory Echenique and Hamady N’dyiaye, who are an average height of 6-10. The two bigs were apparent against Marquette, as they helped Rutgers outrebound the Golden Eagles 37-25. Marquette, of course, was able to eke out the win.

Echenique has emerged into one of the conference’s top rebounders. N’dyiaye, still green and frail, is slowly coming along.

-The 9-7 Scarlet Knights, who everyone pegged as the surefire Big East doormat after witnessing them lose games to Lehigh, Stony Brook, and St. Bonaventure, has shown some toughness. They hung tough with a formidable Marquette team, falling by a tight 81-76 margin.

-After UConn clamped down on fabulous freshman Mike Rosario, throwing him into a 2-for-13 funk, the Jersey City native scored 22 points against Marquette. Corey Chandler helped the Scarlet Knights with 19 as their upset bid of the Golden Eagles fell short.