Thank goodness for Eric Devendorf and Jonny Flynn, who combined for 49 points tonight, nearly two thirds of the team’s 76, in their win over the Richmond Spiders. A healthy 16 more points came from Onuaku, who scored basically at will when the team got him the ball inside, going 8 for 11. (Expect continued calls from this space to feed AO the rock inside this season, especially against smaller opponents.)
If this team is supposed to have more depth and scoring options than last year, they really need to examine their memo distribution system, because nobody seems to have gotten it. Not to pick on a dude recovering from a torn ACL, but I’m looking at you Andy Rautins. To bring back a phrase from high school, zero field goals on 7 attempts in 26 minutes is mad ugs. Plus Rautins made a couple of lazy passes for turnovers — inexcusable when your jumper is not falling. And we’re not really seeing the effects of greater depth if Jonny FLY is still playing 39 minutes.
Rautins’ ACL brother, Devendorf, worried me in the first half as he looked tentative in his drives, but he put the team on his shoulders for a stretch early in the second half on the strength of his three-point shooting. Syracuse Devendorf went on an 11-0 run to pull Syracuse ahead after they were down at the half. There were still momentum swings in the game after that, but I felt a lot better about our chances once Devo stepped up. ESPN scrolled fan commentary along the screen and towards the end of the game one fan wrote, “I have a spider problem in my apartment. Maybe I should have Eric Devendorf over.” Awesome.
Mr. FLY had an all around good game, adding 5 assists to his game leading 27 points, but one play in the second half stood out for its display of heart. Late in the game when the team was ahead but not playing with enough intensity to calm fears of a Richmond comeback, Jonny drove to the basket with the ball. He missed his shot in traffic, but scrambled for the rebound. He missed the next shot with Richmond players swarming him, but managed to deflect the ball to Onuaku, who scored. The man who played the most minutes in the game also showed the most hustle.
For much of the game, SU seemed to lack the killer instinct. They were giving up rebounds and failing to finish plays. The Syracusan stated below that if Syracuse came out of this game smelling like roses, then it could be a sign that “SU might have something special this year.” While we showed we could beat a solid team from a mid-major, we basically just won a game, the consequences of which would have been much greater in the event of a loss than they are now that we’ve won. I don’t think we smell exactly like roses. Maybe like rose-scented room freshener, but we haven’t been shown we’re the real thing yet.
One Comment
I agree with most of this. We’re not smelling like roses yet, but a win is a win. The test was passed, that’s all that matters at this stage.
One thing about the so-called depth and flexibility of the scoring options on offense: I don’t think a performance like this one disproves that thesis. Instead, I think that having games like this shows how multiple scoring options can bail each other out. We can survive Paul Harris and Andy Rautins both contributing very little, and still put up 76 points. No way we win a game like this last year or put up that many points if Paul only scores 7. Next game, maybe Devo has an off game and someone else steps up.