Spring Break
The Daily OrangeMBB | DON'T BACK DOWN: Syracuse rebounds from sluggish Saturday, blows out DePaul
By Kyle Austin
Posted: 1/7/09, 11:27 PM EST Section: Sports
Andy Rautins continued his strong play, leading Syracuse with 17 points on five 3's and a field goal. Since moving into a starting role five games ago, Rautins is averaging 19 points per game, and leads the Big East in 3-pointers made in conference play.
"My teammates are doing a great job of finding me, setting me screens, looking for me," Rautins said.
The Orange was also aided by the return of two players: Devendorf, who suffered a hip pointer in the early seconds against USF and finished with eight points, shot 5-of-11 from the field Wednesday. Harris, who sat out the South Florida game with a cut on his finger, returned to the lineup to play 32 minutes, totaling 14 points and nine rebounds.
More importantly, for Flynn, Harris provided energy to help keep Syracuse out of the doldrums.
"I think we missed that in the second quarter of the South Florida game," Flynn said of Harris' energy.
The Orange is in the midst of a four-game stretch against the statistically worst teams in the Big East to start its conference season. It finishes with a trip to 6-9 Rutgers on Saturday, before entering one of the toughest stretches of games in the country, with contests against No. 9 Georgetown, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 1 Pittsburgh, and No. 23 Louisville, all in the span of 11 days.
"It's encouraging to win your last two games," Boeheim said. "We could have played better, we're still making some mistakes that we can correct. The schedule is what it is. I'd say we're probably playing the toughest schedule in the Big East."
kbaustin@syr.edu
"My teammates are doing a great job of finding me, setting me screens, looking for me," Rautins said.
The Orange was also aided by the return of two players: Devendorf, who suffered a hip pointer in the early seconds against USF and finished with eight points, shot 5-of-11 from the field Wednesday. Harris, who sat out the South Florida game with a cut on his finger, returned to the lineup to play 32 minutes, totaling 14 points and nine rebounds.
More importantly, for Flynn, Harris provided energy to help keep Syracuse out of the doldrums.
"I think we missed that in the second quarter of the South Florida game," Flynn said of Harris' energy.
The Orange is in the midst of a four-game stretch against the statistically worst teams in the Big East to start its conference season. It finishes with a trip to 6-9 Rutgers on Saturday, before entering one of the toughest stretches of games in the country, with contests against No. 9 Georgetown, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 1 Pittsburgh, and No. 23 Louisville, all in the span of 11 days.
"It's encouraging to win your last two games," Boeheim said. "We could have played better, we're still making some mistakes that we can correct. The schedule is what it is. I'd say we're probably playing the toughest schedule in the Big East."
kbaustin@syr.edu
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