2009-2010 Syracuse Orange
Back to Home
Overall
30-5
 NCAA Sweet Sixteen Schedule Results
Big East
15-3
 Big East Regular Season Title Previous Next

Coach: Jim Boeheim

Player Cl Pos G GS Min FG FGA FG% FT FTA FT% 3PT 3PA 3P% Ast Reb DReb OReb Fls DQ TO ST BS Pts Ppg Apg Rpg
Brandon Triche Fr G 35 35 747 100 200
50.0%
 52 82
63.4%
 32 80
40.0%
 99 63 40 23 45 0 71 30 2 284 8.1 2.8 1.8
Andy Rautins Sr G/F 35 35 1137 130 297
43.8%
 66 81
81.5%
 98 241
40.7%
 171 118 100 18 76 2 98 69 8 424 12.1 4.9 3.4
Wesley Johnson Jr F 35 35 1224 207 412
50.2%
 112 145
77.2%
 51 123
41.5%
 78 299 224 75 72 1 81 58 64 577 16.5 2.2 8.5
Rick Jackson Jr F 35 35 920 149 252
59.1%
 43 86
50.0%
 0 0
---
 60 246 152 94 69 3 68 36 69 341 9.7 1.7 7.0
Arinze Onuaku Sr C 32 31 728 153 229
66.8%
 30 70
42.9%
 0 0
---
 20 164 97 67 85 2 43 29 35 336 10.5 0.6 5.1
Kris Joseph So F 35 4 974 127 259
49.0%
 115 155
74.8%
 9 41
22.0%
 61 194 134 60 64 0 62 48 14 379 10.8 1.7 5.5
Scoop Jardine So G 35 0 778 114 233
48.9%
 69 92
75.0%
 21 54
38.9%
 151 68 56 12 51 0 67 41 2 318 9.1 4.3 1.9
Mookie Jones So F 17 0 179 33 72
45.8%
 8 14
57.1%
 25 56
44.6%
 13 27 18 9 14 0 12 12 4 99 5.8 0.8 1.6
DaShonte Riley Fr C 17 0 157 9 15
60.0%
 5 11
45.5%
 0 2
0.0%
 11 26 18 8 28 1 12 2 16 23 1.4 0.6 1.5
James Southerland Fr F 13 0 97 16 39
41.0%
 2 4
50.0%
 7 24
29.2%
 5 16 13 3 6 0 8 8 7 41 3.2 0.4 1.2
Brandon Reese So G 11 0 28 2 6
33.3%
 0 3
0.0%
 1 1
100%
 2 5 2 3 3 0 2 1 0 5 0.5 0.5 0.2
Nick Resavy So G 8 0 11 1 3
33.3%
 0 0
---
 0 1
0.0%
 2 2 2 0 0 0 3 1 0 2 0.3 0.3 0.3
Griffin Hoffman Fr G 7 0 10 1 2
50.0%
 0 0
---
 0 1
0.0%
 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0.3 0.0 0.3
Matt Lyde-Cajuste Fr F 5 0 10 0 2
0.0%
 1 2
50.0%
 0 0
---
 0 5 2 3 1 0 1 0 0 1 0.2 0.0 1.0
Matt Tomaszewski Jr DNP 0 0 0 0 0
---
 0 0
---
 0 0
---
 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Assistant coach Rob Murphy would record and release a song 'Shut It Down' prior to the season; it would become the theme for the Orange in 2009-2010. Syracuse lost three high profile players when Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris all declared early for the 2009 draft. The result was low expectations for the Orange, with the team not being in the top 25 to start the year.

The Orange made noise early in the season, winning the Preseason NIT tournament with easy wins over #13 California and #6 North Carolina. Transfer Wes Johnson gained national attention with his high flying rebounding and dunking, and the Orange displayed outstanding teamwork on offense, and a zone defense as good as any Jim Boeheim has ever had.

Syracuse quickly jumped into the top 25, and would travel down to Florida to beat #10 Florida on December 12th. The Orange truly had a smothering defense, one that would 'shut down' the opposing offenses for five to ten minute spans of the game, and let the Orange put the game away.

Syracuse would rise to 13-0 before their first loss of the season to Pitt. Soon after they would go on a three game road trip, including a visit to #10 West Virginia, and win all three.

Syracuse had Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson up front, the two players providing a lot of bulk and strength under the basket. Wes Johnson was covering the wing, and making shots inside and out. Andy Rautins was lighting up the perimeter shot with a consistent three point shot, and very deep range. Rautins was running the offense with bullet passes to the interior, and outstanding zone defense. Freshman Brandon Triche was okay at the point; sophomore Scoop Jardine showed the poise and maturation of a third year player (he had sat out the previous year due to injury), and was an excellent spark off the bench. Sophomore Kris Joseph became recognized as the best sixth man in the country, and provided Syracuse with the slashing scorer they needed.

Syracuse was 19-1, ranked # 4 in the country, when they faced #7 Georgetown in the Carrier Dome on January 25th. Syracuse would fall behind 14-0 at the start of the game, before their defense got into rhythm, and shut the Hoyas down. Syracuse would end up winning 73-56, outscoring the Hoyas 73-42 for the rest of the game, Joseph and Rautins leading the way with 15 points a piece.

Syracuse would rise to 24-1 and #2 in the rankings before a home loss to Louisville dropped them to 24-2. Syracuse would travel down to Georgetown (the Hoyas were now ranked #10). The Orange would jump out to a 13-2 lead, and Rautins was very hot in shooting from the perimeter. Syracuse would lead 60-37 with just over twelve minutes remaining; the Hoya defense would step up a notch, and in a reversal of the Carrier Dome game earlier that year, Syracuse would score only 3 field goals the remainder of the game. The Hoyas had a chance to take the lead at 71-70, but Syracuse stopped them. The Orange would make 90% of their free throws for the game (27 of 30).

On February 27th, Syracuse would face the #8 Villanova Wildcats at the Carrier Dome in front of an NCAA record crowd 34,616. Syracuse's defense would stop the Wildcats as the Orange won 95-77. Syracuse was outstanding on offense, with only one turnover in the second half, and dominated the Wildcats on the boards 48-36 for the game.

Syracuse moved to #1 in the polls with a 28-2 record, marking the first time the Orange had been ranked #1 since 1988. They would lose to Louisville in the last game of the regular season, finishing 28-3, and win the Big East Regular Season title.

Syracuse would face nemesis Georgetown in the first round of the Big East Tournament. This time the Hoyas would pull out the victory. More importantly, Onuaku would injure his leg in the game. This injury would turn out to be more significant than expected; while Onuaku was listed as day-to-day for the rest of the year, he would never play again.

Syracuse earned a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and faced Vermont in the first round. The Orange easily handled Vermont 79-56 behind 18 points from Jackson. The 2nd round saw the Orange facing #22 Gonzaga; Syracuse's defense shut down the Zags, as the Orange won easily 87-65. Wes Johnson had the biggest game of his collegiate career scoring 31 points with 14 rebounds, shooting 11 for 16 from the floor. Rautins would add in 24 points, several from long range. Freshman DaShonte Riley would have to play some time at center in the absence of Onuaku, and while his effort was admirable, it was clear the loss of Onuaku was going to be felt.

Syracuse would face the Cinderella story of the tournament, #11 Butler, from a mid-major conference. Butler held tough with the Orange all game, and down the stretch would hold on and upset the Orange, ending the Orange's own Cinderella season. The loss of Onuaku was highly evident in this game as Syracuse lacked the inside talent to stop Butler's inside game, and the zone defense struggled for the first time all year.

Nevertheless, it was a great season, one of the best in Syracuse history, and a team that was an absolute joy to watch.

© RLYoung 2009, 2010