Syracuse continued to stake its claim as "Syracuse's Basketball Team" by defeated the LeMoyne Dolphins 109-59 in their final preseason tilt. Donte Greene may have cemented his role as the team's centerpiece with a 26 point performance. The freshman all seemed to contribute, including Jonny Flynn had 15 points and Rick Jackson who had a gaudy statline of 17 points and 16 rebounds.
The old fogies didn't do so horrible themselves. Eric Devendorf had 12 points and 10 assists, Arinze Onuaku finished with 11 points and Paul Harris had eight points and nine rebounds.
Syracuse outrebounded Le Moyne 52-26, shot 59.2 percent, had 27 assists on its 42 baskets, and scored 24 fast-break points.
Along with getting into gameshape, Greene is also getting into shape with his athlete-speak:
"We're not a great team. There's always something to work on. Right now, it's our defense. Our offense is going to come. Coach Boeheim and all the coaches are stressing defense. Defense, defense, defense. That's what we're going to work on."
Jim Boeheim echoed the sentiment:
"I don’t think anyone played defense in the paint in the first half. I don’t think we did a good job with that at all."
The Orange opens the season on Monday at home against Siena in the first round of the Preseason NIT.