MBB | Back on track: After 1st loss to Ohio State, SU responds with important win against Washington

By: Zach Schonbrun

Posted: 11/27/07

NEW YORK - Jon Brockman probably had no clue Rick Jackson was swooping in from above.

Washington's star junior forward Brockman thought he had a clear dunk from underneath the basket after lifting Arinze Onuaku in the air with a pump fake. But Jackson stretched his big, right arm and swatted the ball out to Onuaku, who promptly flung it down court to a streaking Donte Greene for a dunk.

It was the kind of statement play that proved Syracuse's young lineup wasn't going to sit back and let a loss a couple of days earlier erode its confidence. And it was the kind of athletic ball movement that signified what SU could do all evening against the Huskies.

With a blitz of fast-break basketball and a swarming defensive effort, Syracuse bounced back from its first loss of the season to win the consolation game at the NIT Season Tip-Off, beating Washington, 91-85, at Madison Square Garden on Friday. This after the Orange fell to Ohio State, 79-65, Wednesday night; the Buckeyes then lost to Texas A&M, 70-47, in the championship game Friday night.

Greene led SU with 23 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, Eric Devendorf averaged 16.5 points and Paul Harris averaged 11 points and 8.5 rebounds during the two games.

For a team full of inexperience and youth (its lone senior, Josh Wright, was absent for the third consecutive game), the contest against Washington turned out to be crucial in its consequence on perception. Lose, and the Orange would have a lot of questions heading back home. Win, and SU could prove it was capable of healing quickly.

"Good teams are going to lose. It's how you come back," SU head coach Jim Boeheim said after Friday's game. "It's always that. That's always the case. How will your team respond?"

Though Ohio State was widely considered to be rebuilding after losing several key players from last season - most notably center Greg Oden - Syracuse looked like the younger, less experienced team Wednesday, as the Orange committed 16 turnovers, flung unwarranted 3-pointers and allowed the Buckeyes to shoot 49.1 percent from the field.

Point guard Jonny Flynn had a conspicuously bad game (0-for-6, two assists, three turnovers), but Flynn wasn't the only one off his mark.

"I think a couple of our young guys tried to do a little too much," Boeheim said after Wednesday's game. "I think this was a learning experience coming down here, that we got a lot of things to learn about our team."

Syracuse responded by utilizing the athleticism of its offense and countering Washington's pressure defense simply by outrunning it. Against Ohio State, SU shot 36.2 percent from the field - its lowest percentage of the season - as the Buckeyes kept the Orange in more of a half-court game and Syracuse missed 20 of the 25 3-pointers it attempted.

On Friday, SU took only nine 3's. The team shot 51.9 percent from the field because of all the layups and dunks it got by pushing the ball up the floor.

"We got some turnovers, we made some good plays," Boeheim said. "That gets you into transition."

Despite allowing 85 points, Syracuse did make some solid progressions defensively against Washington. The Orange had season highs with 12 steals and nine blocks, like the one Jackson made in the first half to extend a 13-0 run that gave SU a lead it would never relinquish. And while the Huskies struggled mightily with foul trouble - four players eventually fouled out of the game and Brockman, UW's leading scorer and rebounder, played only 21 minutes - SU didn't let anyone take over the game as it did Ohio State's Kosta Koufos on Wednesday.

Koufos, a 7-foot-1 freshman, scored 24 points in 30 minutes and added three blocks and nine rebounds against the Orange.

So what Syracuse did was bounce back by playing its own game, at its own level, at its own pace. Washington just struggled to keep up.

"We got a lot of good finishers on the team with myself, and Paul and Donte and Jonny (Flynn)," Devendorf said. "When we get in transition, it's pretty tough to stop us."

It was an important game, if not just because it was against a quality opponent and on national television, but because it signified that Syracuse's young team can respond to adversity. If there is no such thing as a good loss, Wednesday's game was probably close to it.

"It's important, especially for a young team, it's important for us to bounce back from a loss," Greene said. "I think losing early is definitely going to help us. Not saying I'd like to lose, but I like taking the loss in stride."