SU grabs an 11-point second half lead but fails to hold on in 52-50 defeat at Madison Square Garden
The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team built an 11-point lead in the second half but squandered it against its former Big East rival UConn, and the Huskies escaped with a two-point victory in front of 15,347 fans at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
UConn has struggled after losing three players for the season because of injuries but managed to get the job done this time.
A late defensive stand helps SU rebound from loss to California.
The athleticism and scoring ability of lanky 6-foot-9-inch freshman Chris McCullough late in the second half gave Syracuse the extra push it needed to outlast the Iowa Hawkeyes, 66-63, on Friday at the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden.
McCullough and senior Rakeem Christmas led the team with 20 and 18 points, respectively.
“At the end of the game, Chris made a great steal,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He just made a great play. That was the game...if he didn’t come across and get that one, then we don’t win.”
Tyler Ennis dominated the first half to give the Orange a big lead, but C.J. Fair finished strong to push Syracuse past St. John's.
Playing at Madison Square Garden for the first time since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Orange was able to pull out a 66-61 victory over former Big East foe, St. John’s. SU finished with a 10-3 scoring run to end the game, thanks to the hot hands of senior C.J. Fair and freshman Tyler Ennis.
In the final Big East tournament for No. 19 Syracuse, the Orange could not hold on to a halftime lead, eventually falling to the No. 4 Cardinals, 78-61.
The No. 4 Lousiville Cardinals (29-5) won the Big East Championship for the second straight year and third since 2009. This time, it was a 78-61 victory over No. 19 Syracuse. The Orange (26-9) came out swinging in the first half, coasting to a 35-22 lead at halftime. However, the second half was all Louisville, who outscored the Orange 56-26, including a 44-10 run.
“I thought that they were the best team in the league from the beginning of the year,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “They proved that today.”
Despite a horrid first half, the Orange rallied to beat Seton Hall, 75-63, and move on to play Pittsburgh.
After an incredibly slow start, Syracuse pulled out the victory over Seton Hall in the second round of the final Big East tournament.
The No. 19 Orange (24-8) won 75-63, but were down by as many as 10 in the first half, before mounting a comeback to tie the game up at halftime. The tie allowed for a reset for the second half, which turned out to be all Syracuse.
Syracuse is hoping to defeat Connecticut for the second time this season – and preferably in less than six overtime periods – when they take on the Huskies in the Big East tournament semifinals Friday.
Two years ago, Syracuse and UConn played one of the greatest games in NCAA history. The epic six-overtime marathon lasted nearly four hours and carried over into the early hours of the morning. Friday, the Orange will face the Huskies in the Big East tournament once again.
Fab Melo scored a career-high 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting to provide the Orange a lift in their Big East tournament matchup with St. John's.
Twelve points, four rebounds, two blocks. That may not seem like an overly impressive statline, but when your name is Fab Melo, those kinds of numbers are huge. It was that type of play from the much maligned former McDonald’s All-American that helped Syracuse escape St. John’s Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
Coming off of a strong performance in a blowout of lowly DePaul, Melo’s confidence was high. That certainly paid off for the big Brazilian who played his most meaningful minutes in a meaningful game, and scored a career-high 12 points.
The Big East Tournament has its final four teams ready to battle in primetime with the semifinals tonight in Madison Square Garden, followed by the championship on Saturday night. That’s the good news. The bad news is Friday’s action will be the day fans remember.
The Big East tournament is alive and kicking. Syracuse, Villanova, and Pittsburgh, three of the top four seeds are home resting for the Big Dance. So what's left?
The Orange (4-7, 1-5 Big East) plays its final game of the 2009 season at Connecticut (5-5, 1-4) on a wet track in an NFL-size stadium before a sold-out crowd. Any chance of victory rests on the SU running game.
Syracuse football comes to a close Saturday afternoon. Halftime Snack ushers out the old and looks ahead to the new.
Halftime Snack saw simple basketball beat difficult opponents for the Orange men's basketball team this weekend at the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. SU beat ranked opponents from both sides of the country, topping California and North Carolina.
Remember back in gym class, during basketball, when the teacher would assign two people to pick sides? The tallest kids in the class were always picked first. The thought: closer to the basket, the more easily that person would put the ball in.
Halftime Snack read Jonathan Abrams’s article in this morning’s New York Timesabout the pick-and-roll, and the many NBA players who use the play to get open shots.