Syracuse and Rutgers are the two teams that get thrown out there the most when talk of Big Ten Conference expansion comes up. And for a half last, both teams played as if they already had the conference identity down pat. Thankfully SU remembered who they were in the 2nd half en route to their third straight blowout, a 70-40 win.
The man of the hour was Kristof! and he didn't disappoint. The senior scored a season-high 10 points and added some patented "dirty work" like the beautiful back-pick that freed up Paul Harris to do an especially nasty dunk (See video #3). More than his points, those are the things we'll miss about the big lug. And he felt the love:
"My expectations were pretty high," Kristof said of this final Dome appearance. "But they were definitely met. It was just great seeing Belgian flags everywhere. I had tremendous support from the fans and my family, my girlfriend, all that. That's all I needed. It was totally there. And I'm just trying to take it in right now. And hopefully I can look back at it in a couple years, or pretty much my entire life."
Going back to the first half though, things were ugly. I mean oog-ly. How ugly was it, Axeman?
Someone had to be ahead of this ugly contest at the half. It was so bad, that the Big Ten called to say this one was ugly.
It was an hour of their basketball lives that the *cough* "announced" crowd of 21,233 and an audience on ESPNU would never get back.
Harris (more on him ib a bit) led the Orange with 18. Andy Rautins added 11 and was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. AO joined Kristof! at the 10-point mark. KO's fellow seniors, Justin Thomas and Jake Presutti, also got some PT and put up 4 and 3 points respectively.
With the win the Orange (22-8, 10-7) cliched a first-round bye in the BET, a much needed advantage. Lots of scenarios available with only one game left. We'll get into that in a bit but the Orange can do a lot of good for themselves by beating #13 Marquette on Saturday.
- Yeah what WAS with the late start last night?...OrangeFizz
- Syracuse just won three-straight Big East games by 20+ points for the first time ever...Holding on Ruben Brown
- This win was an easy one to predict...Bud Poliquin
- Tons of post-game videos...The Orange Segment
- Hello, Goodbye Rutgers...CuseOrange
- Finishing strong, the Orange get the win...Daily Orange
Finally, it's so hard to say goodbye. But when you have 6'8" Belgians by your side, it's a whole lot easier:
Syracuse vs. Rutgers - Senior night emotions |