Syracuse 84, Notre Dame 71 Post-mortem
by Sean Keeley on Jan 19, 2010 10:53 AM EST
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PrintSome more recaps and thoughts on SU's 84-71 win over Notre Dame Monday night.
First up, Cuse Country, where they've noticed there's something special about this squad when the pressure's on.
These Orange players do not panic. They do not wilt under pressure. They do not get rattled, nervous, worried, disturbed, bothered, anxious, concerned, distressed, flustered, agitated, worked up, scared, unsettled, or disquieted. They respond. And they are getting better at it every game. This three-game six-day road test seems to have matured the team even more. Some of the talking heads on TV were saying in December that SU looked really good, but that they had perhaps reached their ceiling already. They (the heads) didn’t think there was much room for improvement on this team, and thus although they may have seemed like the best team in the nation at the moment, other teams were likely to pass SU during the season. I am happy to report that this was erroneous.
With the win, the Orange complete a three-game road swing during which they proved they can beat most any kind of opponent, says Bud Poluquin:
The Scarlet Knights are conference dregs and the Orange kept them that way. The Mountaineers are brutes and the Orange slugged with them. The Irish are finesse guys and the Orange beat them skill on skill.
And the result? Here it is at 18-1 for only the third time in Boeheim’s 34-year reign (although 10 seasons ago, SU was 19-0) and looking at five of its next seven contests in the Carrier Dome. Not a bad perch for an outfit that wasn’t even ranked as recently as two months ago.
Brent Axe is a little confused. Did we actually just win a game in which the X-factor was Arinze Onuaku's free-throw shooting...and that was a positive for us???
With Notre Dame on a 12-3 run and having closed a 52-41 Syracuse lead to 55-53, Arinze stepped to the free throw line and made...both free throws? It was the beginning of a run where 10 consecutive Syracuse free throws went in.
kj
Go read that again.
Yep. Happened.
Just a few minutes later with Syracuse now up 63-56, A.O. got fouled again, stepped to the line, and made...both free throws? Both free throws! Arinze Onuaku. Yes, that one.
The enforcer on the evening for Syracuse? It wasn't AO. Nor was it RickJack. It was Andy "All He Does Is Shoot Threes" Rautins, throwing elbows like an MMA fighter. Orange Fizz was impressed with the physical display.
Even lithe Andy Rautins brought the bang to this brawl, knocking out Tory Jackson with a wicked elbow and setting a dominating tone for the Orange.
Jackson was fine. Rautins got hit with an intentional foul. But it was his leadership, not just his brute Canadian force, that led SU to victory.
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At first I thought that Jackson flopped on that elbow by Rautins, but he really got knockeddafuggout.
Kudos to ESPN, by the way, for showing that slow motion replay about 30 times in a row.
Go, fight, and win.
Even still
I thought Harangody’s tantrum while AO hung from the rim was more of an intentional foul than Rautins’.
by Rocket Ship Science on Jan 19, 2010 11:26 AM EST up reply actions
That was fantastic
I wish we had an animated gif of that
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.
by Sean Keeley on Jan 19, 2010 11:50 AM EST up reply actions
Andy Rautins' Foul
He obviously took offense to the “USA! USA!” chants raining down on him from the ND student section during a trip to the line earlier in the game.
Rick Jackson
may be struggling around the basket and catching the ball in the low post, but made a huge difference- especially against west virginia, his passing and ball handling in the high post has. One thing Triche does not well is keep his dribble under pressure in the half court (Scoop is much better at this). Jackson saved much turnovers by giving Triche a big target to pass to at the top of the key, he did.
I actually learned something from Bill Raftery last night
During the obligitory Leo and Andy are related and so are the two Triches. Bill drops that Jason Hart is Brandon Triche’s cousin. Am I the only one who didn’t know this? I feel so confused, actualy learning from Bill Raftery during a game? Up is down, black is white.
Although it does explain why the X play is back for Cuse this year.
I checked suathletics.com and it does say in his bio that they are cousins.
I remember seeing that once
don’t tell ESPN announcers, we’ll never hear the end of it
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.
by Sean Keeley on Jan 19, 2010 12:59 PM EST up reply actions
I feel like they mention that one about every other game when they’ve exhausted the more obvious Triche/Rautins relatives.
The first I learned of it was back during the Cornell game.
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