Christmas' 'Spectacular' Night Lifts Orange Over No. 12 Louisville

It was effective, efficient and as head coach Jim Boeheim called it "spectacular."

Rakeem Christmas missed just one shot from the floor in Wednesday's 69-59 win over No. 12 Louisville at the Carrier Dome, going 9-of-10 combined with an 11-of-13 performance from the charity stripe for 29 points.

"He was spectacular, he finished everything down there," Boeheim said. "He was great defensively as well. He just had a spectacular game."

In addition to Christmas' 29 points, the senior center added eight rebounds, four blocks, two steals and an assist.

"He was effective down there, he changed some shots and he blocked some shots," Boeheim said. "He made some really hard post moved against a 6-foot-10 guy down there while they were doubling him still. He had a great game tonight, he was tremendous tonight."

Christmas' standout performance came on the heels of one of his lowest point totals of the year in Saturday's loss to Duke. On Wednesday, Christmas made it a point to rebound.

"I thought he was getting great position," said guard Trevor Cooney. "When he gets good position he's almost unstoppable and one of the best big guys in the country and it's our job to get him the ball. We got him the ball and he did a great job finishing."

Others seem to agree with Cooney's assessment of Christmas being one of 'the best big men in the country' as the senior has been added to watch lists for the Naismith, Lute Olson and Abdul-Jabbar awards, including Louisville head coach Rick Pitino.

"He is the most feared low-post player in the country," Pitino said. "That is a tremendous credit to him and the Syracuse coaching staff. When he was a freshman, you could leave him alone, unless he dunked the ball, and he couldn't score. That's a credit to him; he's probably put himself into the middle or late first round because of how hard he's worked.

"He could be a terrific power forward at the professional level and I can't tell you how happy I am for the man because I know he had to put a lot of work to get to that point."

Christmas' next opportunity will come against Pitt on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.

Syracuse University Athletics

Christmas' 'Spectacular' Night Lifts Orange Over No. 12 Louisville

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