ORANge SCOUTiNg RePORT

SYRACUSE (13-1, 1-0) vs. SOUTH FLORIDA (5-7, 0-0) • 8:30 P.m. • SUn DOME • ESPN
OR A NGE SCOUTING REPORT
An assistant coach familiar with South Florida provided an “On the Court” tip as well as a rundown on the Bulls starters and bench.
Orange was impressive against a lesser foe in the Big East opener. It will need the
To the point The
same intensity on the road at the site of an ugly defeat last season.
MIKE’S MAILBOX
PostStandard
basketball
writer Mike
Waters
answers
readers’
questions
about the Orange, the Big
East, all of college basketball
and just about anything else.
ON THE COURT
On their motion set, they set a lot of down
screens. They bring Verdejo and Jones off
a lot of down screens. It’s tough to defend
man-to-man, but Syracuse has that zone
which will make it tougher for them to free
up those guys with screens.
G
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• To submit a question,
e-mail Mike at
[email protected].
Q:
Hey Mike,
I am a big
Syracuse fan. I have been
watching Syracuse basketball
games on TV for as long as I
can remember, but this year
is the first time I have ever
been to a game. Who are
the captains of the Syracuse
team this year? Will
Syracuse ever play Duke or
North Carolina?
— Taryn, 13, of Cooperstown
Mike Waters: Syracuse
has captains, but it’s not
as formal a designation as
you might see in hockey or
football or in special cases
like Jason Varitek being the
captain of the Boston Red
Sox and actually wearing a C
on his uniform. Usually, Jim
Boeheim picks the captains
and he goes with the more
experienced players on the
team.
This year’s captains are
Arinze Onuaku, Kristof
Ongenaet, Jake Presutti and
Jonny Flynn. They’ll meet
with the referees and the
other team’s captains at center court before the start of
the game.
In the 20 years that I’ve
been covering the Syracuse
basketball team, the Orange
has never played North
Carolina and it has played
Duke just twice — in the Big
East/ACC Challenge in the
1989-90 season and in the
1998 NCAA Tournament. I
would love to see Syracuse
play either of those schools.
One reason Syracuse hasn’t
played Duke in recent years
is Jim Boeheim and Duke
coach Mike Krzyzewski
didn’t want to play each
other while they were working on the U.S. Olympic
team together.
Mike, I didn’t see
Q:
Scoop Jardine and
Wesley Johnson on the
bench for the Seton Hall
game. Was their absence due
to the students still being on
break or for something else?
— Michael K., Jupiter, Fla.
Mike Waters: You
guessed correctly. Since
Scoop Jardine is redshirting this season and Wesley
Johnson is sitting out the
year after transferring to
Syracuse from Iowa State,
both were given a little
extra time at home over the
Christmas break.
And while we’re on the
subject: The Scoop and
Wes Show; the entertaining
video segment produced by
Post-Standard videographer
Peter Chen along with PostStandard reporter Donna
Ditota, should return to our
Web site in another week.
If Syracuse played
Q:
against two miniDitka’s and one normal
Ditka who would win and
how many points would
normal Ditka score? Oh, and
normal Ditka can only take
full-court shots.
— Adam
Mike Waters: Only
because I love “Saturday
Night Live” do I answer this
question.
Syracuse wins. According
to NCAA rules, you must
have five players on the
court to start the game. Even
if the three are Ditkas; mini
or otherwise, the Orange win
by forfeit.
Now, if you could find a
couple more Ditkas, then
we’d have a ball game!
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Three points
1
2
»
In Big East play last
season, South Florida’s
Dominique Jones led
all conference freshmen in
scoring at 18.2 points per
game. He ranked third in the
Big East behind Notre Dame’s
Luke Harangody and Pitt’s
Sam Young.
3
Paul Harris needs 12 more
points to become the
50th player in Syracuse
history to reach the 1,000point plateau.
F
G
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South Florida’s win over
Syracuse last season was
the Bulls’ first win ever
against the Orange. Syracuse
had won the first five
meetings between the two
schools.
F
Prime matchup
(CENTER)
Gus Gilchrist
Arinze Onuaku
Fr., 6-10, 235
Jr., 6-9, 275
He can shoot out to 15
feet. He’s shooting it a lot
better. He just got eligible
and he’s getting his
groove back.
Onuaku missed his first
three shots vs. Seton Hall.
He then made five of six to
finish with 11 points.
POINT GUARD
Chris Howard
Jr., 6-3, 200
He’s a veteran
guard. The main
(cog) to what
they like to do.
He gets shots for
their shooters.
Who’s Hot
Um, Andy Rautins? Rautins
followed up his career-high
29-point game against Coppin
State with a 26-point effort
vs. Seton Hall. His 55 points
are the most in back-to-back
games for any SU player since
Demetris Nichols went for 20
and 37 in consecutive games
against Connecticut and St.
John’s in the 2006-07 season.
home
away
So., 6-0, 185
Flynn called his
24-minute stint
against Seton
Hall “a vacation.”
The vacation’s
over as SU will
need Flynn to
neutralize USF’s
guards.
SHOOTING GUARD
Jesus Verdejo
Sr., 6-4, 205
You must find
him. He’s a
tremendous
shooter. He
doesn’t want to
drive it. You’ve
got to make him
a driver.
LAST five games
KEY
Jonny Flynn
Andy Rautins
Jr., 6-5, 205
Lost in the
excitement
created by his
26 points was
Rautins’ defensive
effort. He did a
good job against
Seton Hall’s
Jeremy Hazell.
neut
SMALL forward
South Florida
Vanderbilt
52-71
Murray State
73-64
Dominique
Jones
Wright State
43-60
So., 6-4, 205
Oral Roberts
63-86
Iona
68-55
He does
everything. He
leads the team in
scoring, rebounds
and assists. If
you contain him,
they’ll struggle.
Syracuse
Cleveland State
69-72
Canisius
82-60
at Memphis
72-65
Coppin State
82-71
Seton Hall
100-76
Paul Harris
Jr., 6-4, 230
Harris cut open
the ring finger
on his right hand
during the Seton
Hall game. He
caught the finger
on one of the
loops that holds
the net.
POWER FORWARD
usf Bench
They’ll miss Mike Mercer, the
transfer from Georgia. He’s
torn his ACL. He would’ve
helped. They’ve rotated their
fours and fives. Whoever
starts, they don’t get any
touches. You’ve just got to
keep them off the boards.
Mobolaji
Ajayi
Rick Jackson
Sr., 6-9, 225
Jackson’s on a roll
since entering the
starting lineup. In
three starts, he’s
averaging 12.6
points and 6.6
rebounds.
So., 6-9, 240
An athletic
forward. He
doesn’t look to
score, but he’ll hit
the boards.
Mark Humphrey / AP
USF FRESHMAN Gus Gilchrist transferred from Maryland
and played his first game for the Bulls on Dec. 14.
syracuse stats
South florida stats
20-D. Jones
Pts
17.1
Reb
4.2
A
4.3
10-J. Flynn
23-J. Verdejo
16.3
2.6
1.3
GP-GS
14-14
Min.
34.0
FG%
52.4
3FG%
37.3
FT%
73.7
Reb
2.4
PF
1.1
A
5.3
TO
3.4
Blk
0.1
ST
1.6
Pts
17.2
23-E. Devendorf
12-11
30.3
46.8
35.1
80.4
1.1
2.0
3.5
3.4
0.3
1.2
14.4
2-M. Mercer
8.5
2.0
1.5
11-P. Harris
14-14
29.2
51.7
13.3
71.8
8.4
1.6
2.4
2.1
0.6
0.6
12.9
24-A. Gilchrist
8.2
5.3
0.5
21-A. Onuaku
14-14
26.9
73.0
0.0
47.1
7.6
2.1
0.6
1.4
1.8
0.6
12.1
3-C. Howard
5.9
3.3
3.3
1-A. Rautins
14-3
27.0
37.7
38.5
66.7
3.1
1.4
3.7
1.9
0.0
1.5
11.1
32-A. Williams
4.4
4.8
0.2
00-R. Jackson
14-3
16.5
60.3
0.0
73.7
5.8
1.6
0.9
1.4
1.8
0.9
6.9
11-A. Rivas
3.3
4.0
0.0
32-K. Joseph
14-0
19.5
46.6
20.0
40.6
3.6
1.1
1.1
1.4
0.5
1.5
5.0
1-E. Espinosa
2.7
3.6
0.3
3-M. Jones
8-0
10.9
46.7
33.3
66.7
1.5
1.6
0.5
0.5
0.3
0.6
4.6
33-M. Ajayi
2.5
4.0
0.4
12-K. Ongenaet
14-11
12.9
29.2
0.0
52.2
4.1
1.9
0.9
1.1
0.4
0.6
1.9
5-0
2.6
20.0
0.0
66.7
0.4
0.0
1.0
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.8
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24-B. Reese
5-J. Presutti
5-0
1.6
33.3
33.3
0.0
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.2
0.0
0.0
0.6
2-J. Thomas
4-0
3.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.3
0.0
0.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
45-S. Williams
5-0
3.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.6
0.8
0.2
0.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
SU totals
50.8
33.8
65.8
41.0
13.9
18.6
16.4
5.6
8.8
82.6
Opponents
38.7
27.0
62.2
35.5
21.5
15.4
14.6
3.6
8.7
67.9
Inside
the stats
Andy Rautins is
16-for-26 from
3-point range
in his last two
games. His 3point shooting
percentage has
risen from 31
percent to 38.5
percent.