SU and St. Bonaventure Square Off on Wednesday
12/2/2003 9:42:15 AM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The #16/18 Syracuse men’s basketball team will take on St. Bonaventure in a neutral-site matchup on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 7:00 p.m. at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y.
The Orangemen (1-1) rebounded from a season-opening loss to Charlotte by defeating Rhode Island, 69-65, on Nov. 30. Junior Hakim Warrick paced the Orange with a career-high 30 points, 18 of which came from the free-throw line. Warrick was 18-of-22 from the charity stripe on the afternoon, tying the school records for free-throws made and attempted held by Allen Griffin. Warrick currently sits atop the BIG EAST Conference in scoring, averaging 25.0 points per contest. Sophomore Gerry McNamara is sixth in the league in scoring, averaging 20.5 points per outing and he is also tied for the conference lead in three-point shooting with 4.0 treys per game. Junior Josh Pace has been SU’s top rebounder, averaing 8.5 boards per game, which is the sixth-best mark in the BIG EAST.
As a team, the Orangemen are averaging 80.5 points per game, second in the conference to Connecticut, which is averaging 82.2 points a game through its first five contests.
First-year St. Bonaventure head coach Anthony Solomon has the Bonnies off to a 2-1 start in 2003-04. The Bonnies defeated Robert Morris (78-76) and Arkansas-Little Rock (89-75) before losing, 83-63, to Creighton on Nov. 29.
Senior Marques Green leads the club with a 20.7 points per game mark, which is second-highest scoring average in the Atlantic 10. He also is league’s top free-throw shooter and leads the league in steals. He has connected on 14-of-16 (.875 pct.) foul shots this season and has 17 swipes in three games. Junior Patrick Lottin (14.3) and Maurice Young (12.7) are also averaging double-digit points for the Bonnies.
Green’s prowess is one of the reasons the Bonnies rank highly in several league team categories. St. Bonaventure is the top free-throw shooting team in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies are 51-of-62 (.823 pct.) from the free-throw line this season. They also lead the conference with 30 steals and are second in the league in three-point field goals made at 8.33 per game.
This will be the first neutral-site meeting between the two teams. Syracuse owns a 19-3 advantage in the all-time series, including a perfect 12-0 mark at home. The two squads last squared off on March 13, 2002 in the first round of the NIT. The Orangemen won that contest 76-66. Preston Shumpert led he way with 28 points. Warrick, then a freshman, posted a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds). He also set a then-career high with six blocked shots.
The Bonnies last win of the series was a 74-71 defeat of the Orange in 1981. Since then SU has reeled off nine straight series victories.
The game will be televised live in Syracuse, Rochester, Albany and Binghamton on Time Warner Cable Channel 26. Fans can also hear the game on the SU Radio Network (95.7 FM) and on the Syracuse Athletics Web site (www.suathletics.com).
