Kristof Ongenaet scored a season-best seven points Monday night.
Men's Basketball Looks to Bounce Back Against Canisius Wednesday
12/16/2008 3:31:49 PM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The #11/11 Orange (9-1) is heading down the home stretch of its non-conference schedule and will host Canisius (3-6) on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. Including the game against the Golden Griffins, Syracuse has three remaining non-league contests before beginning BIG EAST play on Dec. 30 at home against Seton Hall.
Tickets for Wednesday’s game are available online, by phone through Ticketmaster in the Syracuse area at (315) 472-0700, or in person at the Carrier Dome Box Office. Fans not in attendance can watch the game live nationally on ESPNU, or listen to the action via the Syracuse ISP Sports Network and its flagship station TK 99 (99.5 FM). The audio and video streams of the broadcasts will also be available on SUathletics.com as part of Orange All Access.
ABOUT THE ORANGE
Syracuse’s early season magic finally wore off as it lost its first game of 2008-09 on a miraculous 60-foot heave by Cleveland State’s Cedric Jackson that banked in at the buzzer to give the Vikings a 72-69 win Monday night. The loss stopped the Orange’s nine-game winning streak to open the season.
Syracuse shot 54 percent (27-50) Monday, but could not overcome the scrappy Vikings. J’Nathan Bullock scored all of his game-high 18 points in the second half to pace the visitors. Junior guard Eric Devendorf (Bay City, Mich.) led the Orange with 17 points. Devendorf tied his personal best with five 3-pointers. Classmate Paul Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) recorded his 23rd career double-double with 11 points and 10 boards. Senior Kristof Ongenaet (Ghent, Belgium) had his best offensive game of the campaign against the Vikings. He was 3-of-4 from the floor and finished with a season-best seven points.
The Orange is one of three BIG EAST teams shooting better than 50 percent on the season (50.6 pct., 285-563). One of the main reasons has been the play of center Arinze Onuaku (Lanham, Md.) who leads the country in field-goal percentage (77.5 pct.). Onuaku had made 17 straight attempts coming into the Cleveland State game, but he missed his first three field goals Monday before going 5-for-5 from the floor in the remainder of the contest.
Defensively, Syracuse lists third in the conference in steals per game (9.5). It had seven more thefts against Cleveland State Monday. Sophomore Jonny Flynn (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) tied his personal best with four steals against the Vikings. He is the team leader in that category with 19 for the season.
SCOUTING CANISIUS
The Griffs are the midst of a three-game losing streak, including a 74-46 defeat at the hands of Albany on Dec. 13. They enter Wednesday’s clash with a 3-6 record. Their last win came on the road against on Howard on Dec. 1.
One of the main reasons for Canisius’ struggles has been its inability on the offensive end of the floor. The Griffs are averaging just 58.4 points per outing and have been held below 50 points three times this year. Canisius is hitting 39 percent of field goals (188-482) on the season and has shot just 24.4 percent from behind the arc (42-172).
Junior guard Frank Turner is the only Canisius player to start every game and he leads the team in scoring (13.3 ppg). Mammoth center Chris Gadley (6-9, 320) is also in double figures at 12.4 ppg. Gadley is the Griffs top rebounder (7.6 rpg).
Fordham alum Tom Parrotta is in his third year at the Canisius helm. Prior to taking the job in April 2006, Parrotta spent five years as an assistant at Hofstra (2001-06). He also served on the Niagara coaching staff for six seasons (1995-01) and was an assistant coach at Nazareth from 1994-95. Parrotta is 21-50 overall as head coach of the Griffins.
THE SERIES
Syracuse has won the last 18 meetings with Canisius and owns a 43-24 advantage in the all-time series. The last time Canisius posted a victory against the Orange was during the 1974-75 season. Syracuse earned an 81-71 decision the last time the two schools played on Nov. 25, 2006 in Buffalo.
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