Orange Handle Pesky Irish

With 30,021 Orange fans packed into the Carrier Dome, the largest crowd of any college basketball game this season, #8 Syracuse fought off #13 Notre Dame, 93-74. Six Orange men totaled double-digit points with junior Arinze Onuaku posting a team-leading 19. Sophomore Jonny Flynn and junior Eric Devendorf recorded 17 and 16 points, respectively, and Flynn contributing nine assists. Junior Paul Harris (15 points, 10 rebounds) and sophomore Rick Jackson (14 points, 10 rebounds), each had double-doubles. Junior Andy Rautins rounded out the top scorers for the Orange with 10 points. Syracuse found its stride in the second half and was up by 10, 48-38, less than three minutes in after Rautins stole the ball from Tory Jackson. Onuaku followed it up moments later with a dunk on an across-court pass from Flynn. The dunk was the start of eight-straight points from the Orange to give them a 16-point advantage by 14:09. Notre Dame answered with its own eight-point run bringing on a Syracuse timeout. Following the timeout, SU scored six-straight points capped off by a steal by freshman Kris Joseph who put home a layup for a 67-53 lead. Two plays later, Devendorf stole the ball and took it down the court passing it to Flynn. Flynn, not open, passed it back to Devendorf who placed it in the hands of Harris for the dunk. Notre Dame answered with a 16-7 run to bring them within six of taking over the lead, 78-72. However, Devendorf, Harris and Flynn put up seven-straight points to put the Orange advantage back into double digits. Syracuse closed out the game on a 15-2 run with Devendorf accounting for seven of SU’s points. Syracuse was 37-of-67 (55.2 percent) shooting while holding Notre Dame to .355 (27-of-76). SU outscored ND in the paint 54-24, 20-10 off turnovers, 39-11 in fastbreak situations and 18-7 from the bench. Syracuse opened the game trailing by two after the first five minutes of the game, but went on to tally 11-straight points for a 21-12 advantage. Despite a basket from Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody, the Orange momentum didn’t slow. Five straight points from Rautins and two each from Jackson and Devendorf extended the SU run to 20-7, putting the Orange up 30-19 with 9:01 to play. Seven-consecutive points from the Fighting Irish finally cut off the Orange run, but a three-pointer from Rautins and a dunk off an inside pass from Flynn by Jackson, ignited the Orange faithful and put the Orange up 35-24. Notre Dame fought within six with 4:03 to play, but SU was back up by nine after a trifecta from Devendorf. Harangody scored five points in the final two minutes for Notre Dame, but with the help of an Onuaku dunk, the Orange maintained the lead, 42-35, at the break. The Orange was 18-of-33 (.545) from the field and held the Fighting Irish to only 34.2 percent (13-of-38). Syracuse also recorded five blocks in the first half with three from Jackson. Harangody led the Fighting Irish with 25 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. McAlarney was second with 24 points and Ryan Ayers added 11 points to the Notre Dame total. Syracuse heads out on the road for a Monday night matchup with #1 Pittsburgh on January 19. The Orange will return to the Dome for a Noon matchup with the Louisville Cardinals on January 25.