Kansas - Syracuse Postgame Reactions OR Rock Chalk You Suck
1 Comments Published on 11.26.2008 by Brian Harrison
How the hell does Flynn do it?!Let me be crystal clear; we should not have won this game. Syracuse played terrible defense for a good 3/4 of the game and gave up the ball quite a bit. However, it just goes to show you that if you get hot on offense, make some stops on defense, and believe you can win, a lot of things are possible. Syracuse beats defending National Champions Kansas in overtime 89 to 81.
Your leading scorer was again Jonny Flynn. He made 25 points including the game tying three pointer with less than ten second remaining in regulation. How awesome is Jonny Flynn? That made three at the end of regulation was a shot that Boeheim would have trusted him to take last year but he would not have made it. This year, well as my good friend Watson would say; RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES. Shocking, Flynn lead the Orange in turnovers with five, including the critical turnover with less than a minute remaining in regulation. However, the shot and offense clearly made up for it. He is your CBE Classic MVP.
Eric Devendorf earned second place in points with 20. Devendorf in this game clearly could not slice the lane like he is used to. He ran into a brick wall of Kansas defenders and coughed up the ball three times. He also went 3-7 from long range. He did end up with 20 so not too many complaints, but it was an ugly 20 points.
Arinze Onuaku was also an unsung hero of the game with 19 points. He made eight of ten field goals and amazingly hit three of three free throws. He also had a key basket in the overtime to give Syracuse the lead and keep it in overtime. Onuaku also had four blocks and 12 rebounds which helped when Syracuse was stalling on defense and offense.
Paul Harris, named to the CBE Classic tournament team, had 14 points and 14 rebounds. An outstanding day for Harris who had an excellent put back in overtime off a Rautins miss. Harris played well and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to grab a rebound. Good work by Harris throughout this tournament.
Rautins again let down Syracuse fans in this game. He only hit 3-8 from three point territory, only earning nine points. He did manage three assists though and the nine points came at good times.
Overall the defense in this game was terrible. What also did not help was that every Kansas player seemed to make baskets when left wide open, but Syracuse players missed wide open baskets. Syracuse shot 48.3% from the floor, which was down from last night’s game. Also not helping was the 15 turnovers the team committed. The only good thing is that Kansas committed 17 and Syracuse made their shots down the stretch of both regulation and overtime. This game was all but doomed and then Syracuse caught some lucky breaks, some stops, and some shots. This game could have been ugly though, so it was lucky that Kansas started missing and Syracuse started hitting.
Once again, I was only one point off in my prediction and correct in calling the Syracuse victory. It feels good to be correct about Syracuse winning two “neutral site” games in the non-conference slate, both against ranked opponents. These games really go to show you that we have a special team brewing that could do big things the Big East Conference and beyond. Syracuse keeps the streak of beating Kansas alive. Hakim Warrick says thank you. And Kueth Duany is smiling somewhere. As they said on ESPN, Syracuse gets another trophy at Kansas’ expense. Awesome.
Your leading scorer was again Jonny Flynn. He made 25 points including the game tying three pointer with less than ten second remaining in regulation. How awesome is Jonny Flynn? That made three at the end of regulation was a shot that Boeheim would have trusted him to take last year but he would not have made it. This year, well as my good friend Watson would say; RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES. Shocking, Flynn lead the Orange in turnovers with five, including the critical turnover with less than a minute remaining in regulation. However, the shot and offense clearly made up for it. He is your CBE Classic MVP.
Eric Devendorf earned second place in points with 20. Devendorf in this game clearly could not slice the lane like he is used to. He ran into a brick wall of Kansas defenders and coughed up the ball three times. He also went 3-7 from long range. He did end up with 20 so not too many complaints, but it was an ugly 20 points.
Arinze Onuaku was also an unsung hero of the game with 19 points. He made eight of ten field goals and amazingly hit three of three free throws. He also had a key basket in the overtime to give Syracuse the lead and keep it in overtime. Onuaku also had four blocks and 12 rebounds which helped when Syracuse was stalling on defense and offense.
Paul Harris, named to the CBE Classic tournament team, had 14 points and 14 rebounds. An outstanding day for Harris who had an excellent put back in overtime off a Rautins miss. Harris played well and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to grab a rebound. Good work by Harris throughout this tournament.
Rautins again let down Syracuse fans in this game. He only hit 3-8 from three point territory, only earning nine points. He did manage three assists though and the nine points came at good times.
Overall the defense in this game was terrible. What also did not help was that every Kansas player seemed to make baskets when left wide open, but Syracuse players missed wide open baskets. Syracuse shot 48.3% from the floor, which was down from last night’s game. Also not helping was the 15 turnovers the team committed. The only good thing is that Kansas committed 17 and Syracuse made their shots down the stretch of both regulation and overtime. This game was all but doomed and then Syracuse caught some lucky breaks, some stops, and some shots. This game could have been ugly though, so it was lucky that Kansas started missing and Syracuse started hitting.
Once again, I was only one point off in my prediction and correct in calling the Syracuse victory. It feels good to be correct about Syracuse winning two “neutral site” games in the non-conference slate, both against ranked opponents. These games really go to show you that we have a special team brewing that could do big things the Big East Conference and beyond. Syracuse keeps the streak of beating Kansas alive. Hakim Warrick says thank you. And Kueth Duany is smiling somewhere. As they said on ESPN, Syracuse gets another trophy at Kansas’ expense. Awesome.
Labels: Basketball
Duany was smiling alright, but not from somewhere. He was right there, sitting in the Sprint Center (as was I), cheering for his gteam!