A lot of people are praising Arinze Onuaku this morning for his 23 point, 12 rebound game last night in Syracuse's 76-70 win over St John's. But where's the love for Arinze Onuwaku? And what were the chances we'd have two Arinze's on one team? Amazing! (Note: If you click on that link and they've realized they spelled his name wrong and that joke doesn't make any sense, please disregard)Donte Greene didn't want you to forget about him and he added 22 points of his own. Paul Harris and Jonny Flynn each dished 7 assists. Flynn also scored 14 and joined Onuaku/Onuwaku and Greene as the only Orange scoring in double figures for the evening.
While Syracuse led almost the entire game but lacked the killer instinct that has yet to develop. It wasn't until Onuaku slammed the door shut that the game was truly in hand. It was a career-high for points by the big man and a game that may come to be remembered as his coming out party.
Don't tell that to Arinze though. When Axe asked him after the game if this was the best he's ever played:
"No, not ever played. But we just gettin' started. The guys are starting to get a feel for me. I've always been a low post threat. This game, coach just kept calling my number. I just tried to establish myself."
Let's hope the guys keep feeling him. No, wait...
Shockingly, Boeheim still sees room for improvement for the Orange:
Again, we made some mistakes, which we're going to be saying that all year, that's just the way it is. They made some, we made some, just some unbelievable mistakes, but fortunately we had a big enough cushion that we could throw the ball away two or three times. Just unforced errors that we have got to learn that we can't make those.
Finally, leave it to SUAthletics to make the game seem more than it was. Kudos to Axe for finding this gem in their wrap-up of the game:
"Syracuse (11-3, 1-0) ushered in the BIG EAST regular season with a 76-70 victory against St. John's (6-6, 0-1) in front of an electrifying crowd of 17,487 at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday..."
Unless that was the Local 43rd International Brotherhood of Electricians up there in Section 323, I really don't think you get to describe a 17K crowd in a building with a capacity of 33K as "ones who electrify."
The Orange host 10-4 (1-0) South Florida on Saturday at noon. The Bulls are coming off a throttling of Rutgers, whom they held to 45 points. Giddy up.
(Photo: AP/Kevin Rivoli)