With tournament hopes lost Syracuse gets big win over #12 Louisville

Story by Michael Castellano

Photo courtesy: Cuse.com

As March nears college basketball teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble are looking for those "signature" wins, as people who like to analyze the game call them. Even though a "signature" win in 2015 won't mean anything for the Orange men's team in terms of postseason play because of its self-imposed ban, Syracuse knocked off No. 12 Louisville 69-59 in front of 26,160 fans at the Carrier Dome Wednesday night in what was easily its best win of the year thus far.

Syracuse (17-9, 8-5 ACC) played one of its best defensive games of the season holding Louisville(20-6, 8-5 ACC) to just 3-percent shooting in the second half and shot 21-27 from the free throw line including 7-8 in the last four minutes of the game to cap the victory.

Cardinals lead early

For two defense-oriented teams it was a pretty high scoring contest in the first half. The Cardinals opened up a 21-13 lead halfway thru the opening frame with dominant play inside from Louisville big men Montrezl Harrell and Chinanu Onuaku. Harrell, who is a projected lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft had 12 points on 5-6 shooting and Onuaku added four points and two assists. They combined for four of the Cardinals nine assists in the 1st half.

Syracuse cut into the Louisville lead when another possible NBA draft pick in Rakeem Christmas returned to floor at the 4:34 mark after sitting on the bench with two fouls. He scored four quick points in the paint for the Orange to trim the Cardinal lead to two. He finished the half a perfect 4-4 from the field to go along with 11 points. 

"We were just trying to break down their defense," Christmas said. "We just wanted to get to the basket."

The Orange hung around despite only shooting 39-percent from the field, including 3-13 from long-range, because of seven first half turnovers by Louisville, including three in a row during the Orange's 7-0 run late in the period. 

Second half: Orange takes over late
 

The second half was most of the same on both sides. The Orange took a one point lead with 11:38 to play on two free throws by Christmas to give him his 16th and 17th points on the evening. 

Syracuse extended that lead to the largest of the game up to that point when Christmas singlehandedly went on a 5-0 run to give the Orange a 51-47 lead with 7:42 to play. 

Freshman Kaleb Joseph, who only had six points for Syracuse hit a huge shot with 1:38 to play to give the Orange a commanding 62-54 lead. With the shot clock winding down Joseph wiggled his way into the lane, pulled up in the paint and hit a 10-foot jumper to seal it for SU. 

"He makes that shot," Coach Boeheim said. "That's the shot he can make, if he can get in the lane he can make that shot."

Impressive win at last

The Orange finally pulled out an impressive win over a ranked opponent  with the victory over the Cardinals. SU had given Villanova, North Carolina and Duke a fight but couldn't finish.

"We had opportunities in these games, but our defense just wasn't good enough," Boeheim said. "But tonight it was."

Michael Gbinije came up big for Syracuse once again. Coming off three straight 20 plus point performances Gbinije finished with 18 points five rebounds and six assists. But his biggest stat came in the final few minutes as he shot 3-4 from the free throw line to stave off the Cardinals come back attempt.

"We made our free throws," Michael Gbinije said. "That was a good thing."

In a matchup of two of the ACC's best big men Rakeem Christmas outplayed Montrezl Harrell. Christmas finished with 29 points and eight rebounds and Harrell had 15 and nine, but only three in the second half as the Orange defense shut him and the rest of the Louisville offense down.

"He was great tonight, he finished everything," Boeheim said. "He was spectacular in the paint."

Panthers next

The Orange will look for another key win this Saturday as it faces off against Pitt in the 2015 series finale at noon at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse lost to the Panthers in Pittsburgh, 83-77 on Feb 7.