Revenge of the Nerds Thwarted
How much longer can the Orange continue to pull this off? This is the biggest question racing inside the minds of Syracuse fans. For the fourth time this season, SU was behind at halftime, yet still managed to win. At this point, do we admonish the Orange for coming out flat against lesser teams, or do we laud them for digging out of the holes they create for themselves? You may have your own opinion, but for me, the answer is a little of both.
On Wednesday night, Ryan Wittman became the latest pasty shooter to light up the Orange, canning nine trifectas. Wittman was unconscious from outside, pure and simple. Normally, that type of performance would do the Orange in and send an unruly mob of fans to Jim Boeheim’s doorstep, but it didn’t tonight. You have to credit Wittman, but you must also credit SU’s resolve to counteract his firepower in the second half by sending everyone at him once he put the ball on the ground.
Arinze Onuaku didn’t get a single shot off in the first half, which is beyond frustrating, and I know I’m not alone in this boat. He’s simply not getting the ball enough, which is evidenced by a sharp drop in his field goal attempts. After averaging an even 15.0 ppg during the first five games of the season, that number has dropped to less than 9 ppg. In the first five gams, he also averaged 8.4 fg attempts per game, and over the last three, that stat has been almost halved to 4.6 per contest. The fact that the backcourt isn’t feeding the 278-pound beast in the post shooting over 75% on the season is flat-out absurd. I don’t think I’m being too rash in suggesting that the “ORANGE” on the front of AO’s jersey be altered to read “FEED ME THE BALL.”
Digressing to Wednesday night’s game, the Big Red blistered the nets in the first eight minutes, building a 25-9 lead with just under 12 minutes to go in the first half. After that, the Orange finally woke up, mounting a gradual comeback and grabbing their first lead with 15:43 left in the game. It was SU who had the hot hands in the second stanza, shooting 75%.
In addition to the big shot percentage in the second half, the Orange got it done with a highly collective effort from the charity stripe. Devo, Flynn, Harris and Rautins combined to go 22-24 from the line, an undoubtedly hefty price to pay for Cornell’s 28 fouls. Based on some of the team’s recent struggles from the line, one wouldn’t figure that SU would win this game from there, but it turned out to play a crucial role, right up there with Jonny Flynn’s consistency and Paul Harris’s omnipresence. I’d also like to give props to Andy Rautins – Despite being stuck in his second cold shooting stretch of the season beyond the arc, he dropped six dimes after doing the same against Colgate.
So what now? The Orange have completed a stretch of nonconference scheduling more exhausting than any in recent memory, eight games in 17 days, and they’ve come out of it with a perfect record and no injuries or ACL setbacks. Included in the undefeated start are three wins against teams expected to make the NCAA tournament, which is also important. The team gets a much-deserved 10-day break from games and will return to action December 13th against Long Beach State.
