Spring Break
The Daily OrangeGerry sinks Hoyas at buzzer to save SU
By Chico Harlan
Posted: 2/23/04, 1:58 AM EST Section: Sports
WASHINGTON, D.C. - First, what most have already forgotten: The tedium.
"It was horrible, man," Syracuse freshman Louie McCroskey said. "It was tough watching that game."
And it should have been a tough defeat to overcome. Beckoning what seemed like an apocalyptic loss for its NCAA Tournament hopes, the Syracuse men's basketball team, with an excruciating mix of missed shots and bonehead turnovers, played as poorly as it has done all season.
Now, what most are still talking about: The euphoria.
"Just an incredible shot," SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.
The game-winning 3-pointer - Gerry McNamara, leaning into a trio of defenders for an off-balance buzzer-beater - played on every sports highlight show in the country Saturday night. And the whole eight-second sequence not only inched Syracuse to a 57-54 win against Georgetown but also provided an ending so dramatic that it eclipsed all ugliness to precede it.
One shot, naturally, didn't nullify SU's heap of misses and miscues. But it did allow the Orangemen, and McNamara especially, the boost they so desperately needed with just four games left in the season. Syracuse (17-6; 7-5 Big East) avoided its sixth loss in nine games. McNamara, meanwhile, sugarcoated a recent shooting slump with his biggest shot of the year.
If sticking 3-pointers isn't the hallmark of McNarama's game, then it's certainly the willingness to try. Yet after missing seven of his first eight shots inside the MCI Center, both attributes - the accuracy and the aggression - were gone. For a 10-minute span in the second half, in fact, McNamara, despite several open looks, didn't try a single field goal.
"Gerry started to worry about his shot," Boeheim said. "That's the first time I've ever seen him, in all the years I've watched him, where he worried about how he was playing. It affected his game. I saw him make some turnovers I'd never seen him make. He made some bad decisions I've never seen him make."
"It was horrible, man," Syracuse freshman Louie McCroskey said. "It was tough watching that game."
And it should have been a tough defeat to overcome. Beckoning what seemed like an apocalyptic loss for its NCAA Tournament hopes, the Syracuse men's basketball team, with an excruciating mix of missed shots and bonehead turnovers, played as poorly as it has done all season.
Now, what most are still talking about: The euphoria.
"Just an incredible shot," SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.
The game-winning 3-pointer - Gerry McNamara, leaning into a trio of defenders for an off-balance buzzer-beater - played on every sports highlight show in the country Saturday night. And the whole eight-second sequence not only inched Syracuse to a 57-54 win against Georgetown but also provided an ending so dramatic that it eclipsed all ugliness to precede it.
One shot, naturally, didn't nullify SU's heap of misses and miscues. But it did allow the Orangemen, and McNamara especially, the boost they so desperately needed with just four games left in the season. Syracuse (17-6; 7-5 Big East) avoided its sixth loss in nine games. McNamara, meanwhile, sugarcoated a recent shooting slump with his biggest shot of the year.
If sticking 3-pointers isn't the hallmark of McNarama's game, then it's certainly the willingness to try. Yet after missing seven of his first eight shots inside the MCI Center, both attributes - the accuracy and the aggression - were gone. For a 10-minute span in the second half, in fact, McNamara, despite several open looks, didn't try a single field goal.
"Gerry started to worry about his shot," Boeheim said. "That's the first time I've ever seen him, in all the years I've watched him, where he worried about how he was playing. It affected his game. I saw him make some turnovers I'd never seen him make. He made some bad decisions I've never seen him make."
