Spring Break
The Daily OrangeMBB | Defense allows season-low points
By John Clayton
Posted: 1/31/08, 1:50 AM EST Section: Sports
ROSEMONT, Ill. - As the final minutes of the first half faded, the frustration spread among the home faithful here in Allstate Arena.
Again and again, DePaul shots were rattling the rim, tantalizing the net, and rimming out.
Then finally, when Donte Greene swatted away Jabari Currie's shot into the SU bench, Karron Clarke threw up his arms in frustration. That was DePaul's 13th miss in 14 shot attempts during the final eight minutes of the first half.
It was the culmination of an impressive defensive turnaround in the first half of Syracuse's win, 60-55 over DePaul Wednesday night. After allowing the Blue Demons to penetrate inside and get open looks for much of the first half, the SU defense tightened, producing a stifling effort for the rest of the half that would extend throughout the remainder of the game.
The 55 points was the fewest allowed by the Orange since it gave up 53 in a win over South Florida on Feb. 14.
"We did a good job getting out on that 3-point shooter," SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. "In the first half they were getting too much penetration. They were getting by us too much, getting in the lane and they got those short pull-ups in the lane."
Those deficiencies staked DePaul to an early lead. The Blue Demons started the game hot, building a 27-19 advantage with 8:23 left behind 12-of-22 shooting.
And at that point, for some reason or another, something clicked for Syracuse. All of a sudden, the Orange got out on the shooters, stopped any opponent from slashing into the team of its 2-3 zone, and the Blue Demons, well, just kept missing. DePaul shot an awful 2-for-15 from the field for the last eight minutes of the half, scoring four points in the stretch.
"We just played together," forward Paul Harris said when asked about with sparked the SU defense into action. "We knew this was a must-win - we hadn't won a road game in the Big East conference - so it was a must win for us."
And that defense showed up in crunch time the second half as well, once again rescuing the Orange from a deficit. After the Blue Demons took a 49-48 lead off a Wesley Green jump shot at the 7:57 mark, they wouldn't score again for over five minutes, until the 2:10 mark.
Again and again, DePaul shots were rattling the rim, tantalizing the net, and rimming out.
Then finally, when Donte Greene swatted away Jabari Currie's shot into the SU bench, Karron Clarke threw up his arms in frustration. That was DePaul's 13th miss in 14 shot attempts during the final eight minutes of the first half.
It was the culmination of an impressive defensive turnaround in the first half of Syracuse's win, 60-55 over DePaul Wednesday night. After allowing the Blue Demons to penetrate inside and get open looks for much of the first half, the SU defense tightened, producing a stifling effort for the rest of the half that would extend throughout the remainder of the game.
The 55 points was the fewest allowed by the Orange since it gave up 53 in a win over South Florida on Feb. 14.
"We did a good job getting out on that 3-point shooter," SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. "In the first half they were getting too much penetration. They were getting by us too much, getting in the lane and they got those short pull-ups in the lane."
Those deficiencies staked DePaul to an early lead. The Blue Demons started the game hot, building a 27-19 advantage with 8:23 left behind 12-of-22 shooting.
And at that point, for some reason or another, something clicked for Syracuse. All of a sudden, the Orange got out on the shooters, stopped any opponent from slashing into the team of its 2-3 zone, and the Blue Demons, well, just kept missing. DePaul shot an awful 2-for-15 from the field for the last eight minutes of the half, scoring four points in the stretch.
"We just played together," forward Paul Harris said when asked about with sparked the SU defense into action. "We knew this was a must-win - we hadn't won a road game in the Big East conference - so it was a must win for us."
And that defense showed up in crunch time the second half as well, once again rescuing the Orange from a deficit. After the Blue Demons took a 49-48 lead off a Wesley Green jump shot at the 7:57 mark, they wouldn't score again for over five minutes, until the 2:10 mark.
Be the first to comment on this story