SU hopes to free up wings tonight

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When the SU men's basketball team visited Morgantown, West Virginia last year, they lost by 20 points to a Mountaineer team that overplayed the passing lanes and refused to allow the SU guards access to teammates on the wings.

In gearing up for tonight's game at the Carrier Dome, the Orange players have not forgotten that tough West Virginia defense. "I know I got a five-second violation just up there dribbling, waiting for someone to get open. That's one thing Bob Huggins brought to that team - defense and intensity," said SU point guard Jonny Flynn.

 

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In last year's game, West Virginia beat Orange by overplaying passing lanes.

Jonny Flynn and Scoop Jardine sat in a silent locker room in Morgantown, the previous 40 minutes of game action a painful, humbling memory.

The two Syracuse University guards, freshmen at the time, had just attempted to run the gauntlet that was West Virginia's defense. They committed a combined nine turnovers against a Mountaineer defense that overplayed the passing lanes and refused to allow the SU guards access to teammates on the wings.

The Orange scored 61 points and lost by 20 that afternoon. A year later, SU players remember the Mountaineer defense. "They're a real tough defensive team," said SU center Arinze Onuaku. "They get in your face."

"One thing that definitely stood out from that game was they denied the wings so well," Flynn said. "I know I got a five-second violation just up there dribbling, waiting for someone to get open. That's one thing Bob Huggins brought to that team - defense and intensity. Before then, they weren't really a

team known for their defense. But if you look at them now, they're ranked at the top of the conference in defense."

The Mountaineers, who visit the Carrier Dome at 7 p.m. today, rank third in the Big East in points allowed during league games. Big East opponents average 64.9 points against WVU. The Mountaineers rank fifth in field-goal-percentage defense (43 percent) and first in 3-point-field-goal defense (24 percent), and they are the league's second-best team in turnover margin (plus-2.75).

Huggins, in his second year coaching his alma mater, said he devotes about half of each practice to massaging his defense. He credits his players with accepting the idea that defense wins games.

"They've embraced it from Day One," Huggins said. "They're good kids and they want to do it, they want to play defense."

The problem for Syracuse last season was that the Orange failed to figure out how to beat West Virginia's brand of defense.

The Mountaineers overplay on the wings and try to deny the entry pass to the post, sometimes by fronting the post man.

Louisville, which shot 56 percent against West Virginia in its recent win over the Mountaineers, made WVU pay on several occasions by going backdoor for layups.

Louisville is a competent, sometimes brilliant passing team. But those proficient passers still had trouble with West Virginia's defense. Louisville committed 26 turnovers. "Coach (Jim) Boeheim definitely brought that up. That's the best way to beat a team like that. But going back-door sometimes is risky. You don't know where the help-side defense is at," Flynn said. "So we just want to really come off screens and get them on our hips coming out to the wings so we can catch it and get space to run our offense."

"I think we can set them up for some double screens and hopefully get some switching going on," SU guard Andy Rautins said. "So maybe that way they can't overplay, they'll have to play behind you. And once they overplay the wings, look to back-door. And we'll probably look high-post entry to get it low."

Rautins and Onuaku are still sore from injuries that caused Rautins (sprained ankle) to miss the Providence game and Onuaku (knee tendinitis) to play limited minutes with limited movement.

Both starters practiced in the days leading up to tonight's game, though neither player could definitively say how ready he would be for West Virginia. Rautins, who looked agile at practice but confessed to lingering swelling, seemed the more physically able.

The Orange has had a week between games to help those players heal.

"It's just a different team when you don't have Arinze and Andy out there," Flynn said. "That's just two big players who are part of our offense and our defense that we need to contend in this conference."

"We're key guys on the team, so they're going to have to play us honestly because they know we're capable of scoring the ball," Rautins said. "It'll be good to be out there, to be there for our teammates and to be able to battle again."

The Orange isn't the only team affected by injuries and illnesses. It's that time of year in the brutal Big East, where teams nurse players through patches of unrelenting game action.

West Virginia has been without starting point guard Joe Mazzulla, who has not played since December and will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury that requires surgery.

"Every game is just so hard. And you prepare so hard for it," Huggins said. "With us, the lack of size and the lack of depth has hurt us. We're playing some guys a ton of minutes because of it."

Da'Sean Butler and Alex Ruoff pace the Mountaineers (15-6 overall, 4-4 Big East). Butler, a 6-foot-7 junior, has developed into one of the league's finest, most versatile players. He's averaging 17.6 points and owns the team's best 3-point-field-goal percentage (44 percent). Ruoff is a pure shooter who has struggled at times from 3-point range. He's still connecting on 35 percent of his treys.

The Orange (17-5, 5-4) has lost three straight, including its 100-94 defeat at Providence last week.

SU players have talked about the reality of the Big East, where teams cannot afford to soar too high or sink too low after every outcome.

"You have to refocus your energy. You have to stay positive," Flynn said. "You can't keep thinking about the negative things."

 

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Must-win game for WVU at Syracuse





MORGANTOWN ? Da?Sean Butler, having heard that Syracuse considers its game against West Virginia University at home a must-win situation, thinks it definitely also is that for the Mountaineers Wednesday night in the Carrier Dome.

WVU coach Bob Huggins heartily agreed Tuesday.

?I think they all are must-wins for us in our league,? he said before leaving for Syracuse. ?Our RPI is high (16) because of strength of schedule.

?The teams we?ve played are pretty good. We may end up having the toughest schedule in the country when it?s all said and done.?

Syracuse (17-5, 5-4) has lost three in a row at Providence 100-94, Louisville 67-57, and at Pitt 79-60. West Virginia (15-6, 4-4) is trying to bounce back from last Saturday?s 69-63 defeat at Louisville.

The tip-off is set for 7 p.m., and ESPN will be televising the action nationally. This will be the 46th meeting between the two schools in a series the Orange lead by 29-16, Syracuse is 12-2 at home this season.

Alex Rouff is the only current WVU player who has performed in the Carrier Dome, and that was only a token appearance in 2006 when WVU dropped a 60-58 decision. Huggins has never faced Syracuse in that multi-purpose building.

However, he took a Cincinnati team there in 1993 for victories in the NCAA tournament over Coppin State and New Mexico State.

Huggins is bothered by the fact this will be the first game in the Carrier Dome for virtually all of his team. He recalled that none of his players in ?93 ever mentioned any problem playing there.

Huggins is 1-0 against Jim Boeheim, in his 33rd year as head coach at Syracuse. Huggins played against Syracuse as a WVU senior in 1976-77, Boeheim?s first year as coach. That game was played in old Manley Field House.

?Jim is a great coach and a very fine person,? Huggins said Tuesday.

If he had a choice, he would prefer to keep this game in the 60s, scoring-wise. WVU would settle for a 100-94 win, but Huggins said his team couldn?t score 100 points even if there were no opposition.

?Sure, there will be 25,000 fans in there, but they aren?t on top of you,? he said. ?Yes, it will be loud, but what place isn?t loud??

He thinks the Orange are very good.

?From one through seven, they may be the most talented team in our league,? he stated. ?They?re very, very talented and they?re good.?

Syracuse has a big front line with three forwards, but the guards carry the scoring load. Jonny Flynn, 6-0 sophomore, is averaging 16.8 points per game, and Eric Devendorf, 6-4 senior, is scoring at a 14.9 gait.

Rick Jackson, 6-9 sophomore, is averaging 7.7 points and 6.2 rebounds; Kristof Ongenaet, 6-8 senior, 2.0, 3.7; an Kris Joseph. 6-7 freshman, 4.0, 2.9.

Butler said, ?They?re looking for a win and so are we, so it should be a good game. We have to play relaxed and focused, especially on the road. They?re a very good team.

?We?re coming off a bad loss, and we?re looking forward to this game.

?They play more of an up-tempo game than in the past, but they play good defense and a little different at times. They have big guys rebounding the ball and dunking it.?

Butler, 6-7 junior forward, is leading West Virginia in scoring with 17.8 points per game and averaging 6.2 rebounds. Ruoff, 6-6 senior guard, is averaging 16.2 points and 3.5 rebounds.

Darryl ?Truck? Bryant, 6-2 freshman point guard who still lacks consistency, is averaging 10.2 points. He has hit double digits in 16 of the 21 games. Another freshman, 6-9 Devin Ebanks (6.2, 6.3), and 6-7 junior Wellington Smith (5.7, 3.8) round out the starting cast.

Huggins thinks it?s best for the team that Butler has taken on more responsibility.

?He?s one guy that can create some shots,? he said. ?When you play against really good defenses, he?s our best creator of shots.

?He?s got to be one of the guys that knows what the score is. We?re waiting for Ruoff to state making shots the way we all know he?s capable of making shots because he?s scored in a whole bunch of different ways.?

 

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3 things Syracuse can do to end its 3-game losing streak



Improve the defense


Syracuse made the trip down to Washington, D.C. ranked No. 8 in the nation, along with a 16-1 record and a flawless resume in the Big East (4-0). Since that time, a lot has changed. SU plummeted 12 spots in the national rankings and has lost four of its past five games. But what has declined the most is the defense.

About two weeks ago the Orange had the third best 3-point defense in the country, holding opponents to 26 percent from deep. The Orange had allowed 107 3-point buckets through the first 17 games. Since that time teams have nailed 48 treys, and opponents are shooting 29 percent from beyond the arc.

But the damage isn't only coming from deep. Over the last five games, opponents are shooting at a 47 percent clip from the field. In the four losses, SU's opponents are shooting over 50 percent.

The nonexistent defense has fueled the opponent's offenses. Before its trip to Georgetown the Orange surrendered about 67 points a game. In the last five games, teams are scoring 81 points a game.







Harris needs to step up


No way around it. Paul Harris is in a bonafide slump. And it's probably not too much of a coincidence that Syracuse has gone into its biggest slide of the season at the same time.

In the Orange's last three games, Harris has scored just nine, six and eight points, respectively. That after a stretch in which he tallied at least 14 points in four straight contests.



After Syracuse lost to Pittsburgh on Jan. 19, Harris said he needed to shoot more if the Orange was going to knock off the best of the Big East. The next game? Harris took just seven shots - one more than the outing before - and SU fell by 10 at home to Louisville. Against Providence last Wednesday, Harris didn't even start because of a coach's decision.

So now the Orange is looking for Harris to step up when it needs him most. There's no doubt tonight's game against West Virginia is as important as any game Syracuse has played all season. SU has to deal with Villanova twice, Connecticut and Georgetown in the next 10 days.

Harris is still averaging 13 points per game. Time to get back there.







Challenge Alex Ruoff



The Mountaineers will spend a good portion of Wednesday's game looking to create openings for their catch-and-shoot 3-point specialist, Alex Ruoff. The Orange defense must shift fast enough to get a hand up for those shots, or risk letting him get into a groove early. If that happens, Syracuse could be in for a repeat of last year, when Ruoff knocked down seven 3's for a game-high 23 points, and the Orange lost by 20 in Morgantown.

But a silver lining exists: Ruoff shoots nearly 10 percent lower on the road than he does at home and at neutral sites (29 percent vs. 38 percent.) And the senior guard's only trip to the Dome was during his freshman year, when he played only three minutes in a WVU loss. The Dome environment could dictate how his game will start. And his first few 3-point attempts could dictate how the game will go.