The No. 1 Syracuse Orange defeated the Seton Hall Pirates 75-49 on Wednesday night. You know all about Fabricio de Melo's big night, but what else happened?
So what's gotten into Fab anyway? Scoop Jardine knows the obvious answer:
"Coach Hopkins, Coach Hopkins, Coach Hopkins" Scoop Jardine said in response to that question before I could even get it out of my mouth after the game.
And Fab agrees:
"Me and Hop (Coach Hopkins) we work everyday. We work on my position on offense. That is how I am getting more points. I know my position better. Better positioning to get rebounds. I think it is working a lot and has got me better."
Kris Joseph didn't score in a Syracuse basketball game for the first time since he was a freshman. It was a BET game against Louisville and KrisJo played one minute.
Both Brandon Triche and Dion Waiters are dealing with thumb injuries. Waiters' injury is on his non-shooting hand and it got "smacked" during the Seton Hall game. Clearly, it's not cause too many problems. As for Triche, it's a thmb injury as well is but it didn't seem to bother him during free-throw (4-4) or otherwise.
Seton Hall's 49-point output was one of the lowest point totals ever in a Big East game and the fifth time SU has ever held an opponent under 50. Rutgers holds the distinction of the worst performance, losing 70-40 to us in 2009.
Syracuse was leading the nation in steals with 11.2 before the game. They had 17 steals Wednesday night.
Seton Hall scored 49 points Wednesday night. The Syracuse bench scored 40. And, as the D.O. pointed out, that was without James Southerland hitting a 3 and with Michael Carter-Williams scoring only two points.
Fab Melo leads the Big East in blocked shots with 41. Syracuse had 14 blocks Wednesday night.
While Seton Hall out-rebounded Syracuse 45-39, that's number's a bit-misleading as many of those SHU rebounds came off SU blocked shots.
And possibly my favorite stat of them all...
Syracuse is the leading scoring team in the Big East at 80.7 PPG but does not have a leading individual scorer in the Top 20 of the Big East Conference.
Finally, Bud Poliquin provides us with some glittery prose to send sweet Dion off into that gentle night:
Dion Waiters has morphed in front of our very eyes, becoming less of a thorn and more of a rose in terms of tone and temperament. But he remains a very competitive dude . . . and that, coupled with his elephant’s memory, helped make for a long night for the Seton Hall Pirates, who learned that payback can be painful.