Syracuse University
DePaul
Syracuse Earns Sixth Straight With 85-68 Win Against Blue Demons
1/7/2009 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Junior forward Paul Harris tallied his 1,000th career point and #11/9 Syracuse (15-1, 3-0) recorded an 85-68 victory against DePaul (8-8, 0-3). With 17,296 Orange faithful on hand, the Orange earned its sixth-straight victory.
Harris closed out the night with 14 points and 1,002 for his career total. He became the 50th member of the Orange program to amass 1,000 career points.
Junior Andy Rautins led Syracuse with 17 points and contributed six assists. Harris and classmate Arinze Onuaku each added 14 points, while junior Eric Devendorf and sophomore Jonny Flynn contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively. Flynn collected eight assists and Onuaku pulled down a team-high 12 boards.
Syracuse's 15-1 season start is the program's best since 2004-05 when the Orange also won 15 of its first 16. The best 16-game beginning of a season during the "Boeheim Era" was a 16-0 start in 1999-2000.
DePaul went basket for basket with the Orange for almost the first six minutes of the game. A free throw from sophomore Rick Jackson and two from Flynn gave the Orange a slim 11-8 edge. Syracuse gave itself a little more cushion, 13-8, when Jackson stole the ball in DePaul territory. Jackson passed the ball to freshman Kris Joseph who sent it sailing across court to Flynn. Flynn ran to the basket and sent a behind-the-back pass to Jackson for the dunk.
After a DePaul basket from Dar Tucker, the Orange went on a 9-3 scoring run, capped off with another behind-the-back pass from Flynn to Jackson for the slam, bringing the score to 22-13, with a little less than 10 minutes to play.
The Blue Demons fought to within five, 22-17, but seven-straight SU points gave the Orange a 12-point advantage, 29-17. Syracuse closed out the last five minutes of the first half on a 13-5 scoring run. SU held DePaul without a basket for almost the final three minutes until Will Walker sank a trey with 34 seconds until the break. The Orange held a 47-31 advantage at halftime.
SU was 16-for-36 from the field, going 50.0 percent (4-for-8) from the three-point arc. Rautins, who led the team in the first half with 11 points, was 50.0 percent (3-of-6) from beyond the arc. The Syracuse defense held the Blue Demons to 12-of-33 (.364) and forced 10 turnovers.
DePaul's Tucker posted the first basket of the second half. Rautins would score first for the Orange at the 17:12 mark to give SU a 50-33 lead. After six-consecutive points from the Blue Demons, Harris put up a layup to reach the scoring milestone and push the Orange lead to 17 points, 58-41.
From there the two teams went back and forth with baskets. The Orange was able to maintain at least a 16-point lead until the 6:12 mark when Onuaku slammed home a dunk to give SU its largest lead of the game, 78-56. DePaul closed out the game on a 12-7 scoring run, but it wouldn't be enough to derail the Orange.
Syracuse shot 47.1 percent (33-of-70) for the game. The Orange outscored DePaul in the paint, 50-36, and 26-15 in fastbreak situations. SU held the Blue Demons to 27-of-66 (.409) from the field. Tucker was DePaul's leading scorer with 18 points, while Mac Koshwal was the leading rebounder with 13.
Syracuse heads out on a two-game road trip with a stop at Rutgers on Saturday, January 10 and Georgetown on January 14. The Orange will return to the Dome for a 12:00 p.m. matchup on January 17 with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Tickets can be purchased online at SUathletics.com, by phone at 1-800-DomeTix or in person at the Carrier Dome box office during regular business hours.
