Rakeem Christmas

No. 12 Virginia uses second-half surge to blow past No. 4 Syracuse
By Robert Elder
March 1, 2014 - 10:19pm
The Cavaliers scored 48 second-half points to beat the Orange, 75-56.

Syracuse came into Charlottesville, Va., determined to prove that it was the best team in the ACC. Unfortunately for the Orange, they did not spoil the Cavalier’s Senior Day, falling 75-56. The loss extended the No. 12 Virginia (25-5, 16-1 ACC) win streak to 13 games and gave the Cavaliers their first outright ACC regular season championship since 1981.

“From what I’ve seen, Virginia has been the best team in the league so far this year,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “They proved that today.”

No. 1 SU loses second straight game
By Joe Diglio
February 22, 2014 - 11:18pm
The Orange fell to No. 5 Duke in a controversial ending.

Syracuse was on top of the college basketball world after a 25-0 start to the season and No. 1 ranking. Now the Orange (25-2, 12-2 ACC) are amid a two-game losing streak and facing a drop in the polls after a 66-60 loss at Duke (22-6, 11-4 ACC) Saturday.

A rematch of one of the best games of the year lacked the offensive firepower of the first contest at the Carrier Dome. The Orange shot just 38.7 percent, hitting 24-of-62 field goals. The Blue Devils hit 47.9 percent of their shots, but were relatively quiet from three-point range, hitting 7-of-21 shots from beyond the arc.

SU survives scare against N.C. State
By Joe Diglio
February 16, 2014 - 12:15am
C.J. Fair scored with seconds left on the clock to push the Orange past the Wolfpack in one of Syracuse's worst games of the season.

Syracuse has shown a flair for the dramatic this week, finding the most exhilarating ways to close out games. After Tyler Ennis’ buzzer beater downed Pittsburgh Wednesday, the Orange pulled off a miraculous win again, this time winning 56-55 over North Carolina State (16-9, 6-6 ACC).

Orange continue winning streak with 23rd consecutive victory
By Joe Diglio
February 9, 2014 - 10:35pm
SU remains undefeated in the season with a 57-44 victory over Clemson Sunday.

The Syracuse Orange extended its best ever start to a season Sunday, defeating the Clemson Tigers 57-44. C.J. Fair bounced back after struggling in SU’s game against Notre Dame Monday, leading No. 1 Syracuse (23-0, 10-0) with 19 points over Clemson (15-7, 6-4).

In the Orange’s last game, Fair had just six points on 2-for-11 shooting. Tonight, though, he shot 8-for-13 to lead all scorers.

“It’s all about going to the next game,” Fair said. “You can’t dwell on a good or bad game.”

Cooney dazzles as Syracuse triumphs in 61-55 win over Notre Dame
By Tyler Greenawalt
February 3, 2014 - 11:00pm
Trevor Cooney scored a career-high 33 points and tied a school record with nine three-pointers in the win.

Every time Notre Dame looked like it was going upset No. 1 Syracuse, the unlikeliest of heroes swooped in to save the day.

Rather, he swished in.

Trevor Cooney, who averaged 13.2 points-per-game going into Monday’s game, shot 9-of-15 from behind the arc to lift the Orange (22-0, 9-0 ACC) past a scrappy Fighting Irish quad, 61-55. Cooney scored a career-high 33 points and tied a Syracuse record with nine three-pointers in the game, also a career best.

It began with a bang: SU kicks off Duke rivalry with big overtime victory
By Tyler Greenawalt
February 2, 2014 - 12:34am
C.J. Fair had a career-high 28 points as No. 2 Syracuse found a way to beat No. 17 Duke in front of a record-breaking crowd of 35,446 fans.

At one point during No. 2 Syracuse’s dramatic 91-89 overtime victory over No. 17 Duke Saturday, C.J. Fair looked up at the 35,446 screaming fans, turned to Jerami Grant and said, “This is awesome.”

Tyler Ennis did something similar. Ennis said he stopped for one minute and just looked around to see how many people were actually watching the game.

Breaking News: DaJuan Coleman out for the remainder of the season
By Tyler Greenawalt
January 20, 2014 - 6:19pm
The sophomore center will need surgery to repair the injury to his left leg, according to head coach Jim Boeheim.

Despite remaining undefeated this season, Syracuse lost an important piece to its puzzle.

Sophomore center DaJuan Coleman, who has sat out the last three games with a left leg injury, will have surgery to repair that injury, forcing him to miss the remainder of the 2013-2014 season, according to head coach Jim Boeheim.

SU escapes with close victory over former Big East rival Pittsburgh
By Thomas Rende
January 18, 2014 - 8:55pm
Freshman guard Tyler Ennis played well in the final two minutes of Saturday's match-up to keep SU's undefeated season alive.

SU’s freshman point guard Tyler Ennis remained cool, calm and collected in the final two minutes of No. 2 Syracuse’s 59-54 victory over No. 22 Pittsburgh. During that stretch, Ennis scored six of his 16 points, which helped secure the victory for the Orange (18-0) over the Panthers (16-2) Saturday afternoon.

SU wins EA Sports Maui Invitational
By Tyler Greenawalt
November 28, 2013 - 2:32am
The Orange won its third Maui Invitational championship after defeating St. Francis Brooklyn, Minnesota, California and finally Baylor.

The last time Syracuse played in the Maui Invitational, the Orange cruised to a 76-63 victory over Indiana in 1998. This time around, the No. 8/7 Orange (6-0)  won in a similar fashion, beating the  No. 18/17 Baylor Bears (6-1)  in a 74-67 game that saw four SU players scoring in double figures.

SU rallies to prevent upset against St. Francis
By Thomas Rende
November 19, 2013 - 12:15pm
The Orange went on a 10-0 run in the final few minutes of Monday night's match-up with St. Francis to remained undefeated on the season.

A collective sigh of relief exhaled from the Carrier Dome when C.J. Fair knocked down the second of his two free throws to seal the 56-50 victory for No. 9/7 Syracuse (4-0) over St. Francis Brooklyn (2-2). The Orange offense struggled mightily throughout the game against the physical defense of the Terriers.

“You can still play physical defense and I thought they did a good job of that,” Head Coach Jim Boeheim said.