RTC Live: Detroit @ Syracuse
Posted by rtmsf on November 16th, 2010
Game #14. To the Carrier Dome for another first-time visit, where Syracuse will welcome an interesting team from the Motor City.
Having recently ascended into the top-5 echelon for total career wins and fielding a team ranked in the top ten, it’s fair to say that most coaches would be somewhat pleased. Not Jim Boeheim. The head coach of the Syracuse Orange earned career victory No. 831 with a win over Canisius this past Sunday, climbing a rung above former Mount St. Mary’s coach Jim Phelan and into rarified air as the fifth most-winningest coach in the history of Division I basketball. That didn’t stop Boeheim from calling out his squad after the victory, citing the 2010-11 incarnation of the Orange as the “most overrated team that I’ve ever had.” Boeheim’s vocal displeasure might be hard to fathom given that the Orange have averaged a 30-point differential in their four wins thus far this season, but what has most likely drawn the coach’s ire is the team’s penchant for letting opponents hang around. In both the win over Canisius and a victory over Northern Iowa last Friday night, the Orange led by just three at halftime. Tonight’s game against Detroit, who recently dropped a competitive contest to New Mexico, offers Syracuse the opportunity to display the level of dominance necessary to satisfy its demanding coach.
Game Recap.
Syracuse 66, Detroit 55. If it wasn’t for Scoop Jardine, the Syracuse Orange might be even further in Jim Boeheim’s doghouse. Jardine poured in 27 points to go with eight assists and five steals, singlehandedly carrying Syracuse to a victory over the Detroit Titans 66-55 on Tuesday night. Jardine went 11-for-18 from the field, including 4-for-10 from three. While Jardine shouldered the scoring load, teammate Rick Jackson did the dirty work, scoring 10 points and grabbing a whopping 22 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive end, en route to recording his second straight double-double. Jardine and Jackson were the only two Orange players to score in double digits. The rest of the team shot a woeful 24-66 for the game and just 7-30 from beyond the arc. After the game, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim made his point in no unclear terms, lambasting his team’s inability to make open shots. “You’re in college, you got a scholarship, they don’t guard you, you gotta be able to make that shot,” Boeheim said. “If you can’t, you shouldn’t be in college playing basketball […] We got some guys we gotta figure out if they are or not [college players] real quick.” For its part, Detroit more than held its own, remaining very much in the game deep into the second half. Three Titans scored in the double digits, utilizing hustle and bustle plays to clean up the glass and get easy put-backs to stay in the game. Forward Eli Holman recorded his second straight double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the Titan’s second consecutive losing effort.
Huge Cuse fan and I learned a lot from this chat. Great little tidbits. Looking forward to future chats.