Rutgers University
Syracuse
#4 Syracuse Rallies to Edge Scarlet Knights 86-84
Jan 24 | Men's Basketball
Syracuse used a full-court press to force the Scarlet Knights' into turnovers on their first three possessions to open the second half with a 9-0 run. Abandoning its vaunted matchup zone defense in favor of a man-to-man, Syracuse cut the deficit to 58-53 in the first 2???? minutes of the half and eventually seized a six-point, 80-74 lead with 5:52 to play.
Undaunted, Rutgers regained the lead 82-81 on a Ricky Shields three-point shot with 1:41 to play. The game, which featured eight lead changes, see-sawed again as the Scarlet Knights managed to take the lead at 84-83 on two free throws by freshman forward Dan Waterstradt with 27 seconds left. The 6-foot-11 freshman was 0-for-2 from the line for the season before then.
Josh Pace missed a shot in the lane with 10 seconds left and Roberts put in the rebound and was fouled. His free throw gave him five points for the game and made it 86-84.
Rutgers took a timeout, and its final play was the three by Douby that came as close to going in as a ball can without counting.
Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick each had 21 points for Syracuse. Senior guard Ricky Shields had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Rutgers (7-9, 1-5). Freshman forward Ollie Bailey had 18 points and four rebounds while Douby finished with 11. Sophomore guard Marquis Webb dished out a career-high 11 assists.
It didn't look like Syracuse would have any chance at the 20th win when Rutgers led 54-36 after closing the first half with a 21-3 run.
The Orange started to dominate on the offensive boards to keep chipping away, and a three-pointer by McNamara with 10:01 to play brought them within 70-69.
Rutgers scored four straight points to get the lead back to five, but Syracuse went on an 11-0 run that was capped by McNamara's fifth 3-pointer and the Orange were ahead 80-74 with 5:56 to play.
Rutgers' close to the first half saw it go 6-for-8 from the field, including 3-for-3 on threes in the final six minutes. The Orange, meanwhile, had one field goal in the final 7 minutes, going 1-for-8 with three turnovers.
POSTGAME NOTES
WITH THE LOSS
With the 86-84 loss, Rutgers falls to 7-9 on the season and 1-5 in the BIG EAST, while fourth-ranked Syracuse improves to 20-1 overall and 7-0 in BIG EAST play.
FIRST HALF FIREWORKS
The Scarlet Knights ended the first half on a 21-3 run to take an 18-point half time lead. During the run, Syracuse made just one-of-seven field goals in the final 5:41 of the half. Meanwhile, Rutgers was red-hot from the floor, nailing six-of-seven shots, including four-of-four from three-point range. The 54 points was the most scored in a half since RU erupted for 63 points against Northern Colorado on Feb. 17, 2004 in a 102-52 victory at the RAC.
The 54 first-half points by Rutgers was the most Syracuse has given up in a half this year. The previous high against SU was 38 by Hofstra on Dec. 30, 2004. It also ties the most points RU has scored in a half in BIG EAST play. On Feb. 22, 2000, the Scarlet Knights scored 54 points in the second half of an 88-71 victory over Georgetown.
IT'S A SELLOUT
Tonight's crowd of 8,071 is Rutgers' third sellout of the year, the 18th in the Gary Waters era and the 52nd in the history of the RAC.
SHIELDS DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Senior guard Ricky Shields scored 20 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to post his first double-double of the year. It was also his third career double-double. He also had 16 points and 11 rebounds against Virginia Tech (3/10/04) and 18 points and 10 rebounds against Syracuse (3/9/03).
Additionally, Shields is now just four three-pointers shy of tying Geoff Billet (242, 1995-99) for first place on Rutgers' all-time three-point field goals made list. Shields also moved up to a tie for 20th place on the all-time BIG EAST three-point field goals list, passing Chris Smith (UConn, 1998-02) and David Graves (1998-02). Shields has 121 career three-pointers in BIG EAST games.
A BLOCK PARTY
Led by Quincy Douby's career-high four blocked shots tonight against the Orange, Rutgers registered a season-high eight rejections.
BAILEY REGISTERS BIG EAST CAREER HIGH
Freshman forward Ollie Bailey played his best game in BIG EAST competition thus far, notching 18 points and five rebounds.
WEBB DISHES OUT CAREER HIGH
Sophomore guard/forward Marquis Webb handed out a career-high 11 assists, besting his previous high of eight against Temple on Dec. 3, 2003.
RU AUTOMATIC FROM THE LINE
Rutgers shot a blistering .926 from the foul line tonight, converting on 25-of-27 attempts. The .926 mark is the best ever by a Rutgers team in a BIG EAST game. The Scarlet Knights' previous best was .917 (22-of-24) vs. Notre Dame on 1/20/96.
Rutgers from the line in the last three games
Opponent FTM-FTA PCT.
Providence 23-30 76.7%
Seton Hall 12-17 70.6%
Syracuse 25-27 92.6%
TOTAL 60-74 81.1%
Official Basketball Box Score
Syracuse vs Rutgers
01/24/05 7:00 p.m. at Louis Brown Athl. Center; Piscataway, NJ
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VISITORS: Syracuse 20-1, 7-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 WARRICK, Hakim...... f 7-15 0-1 7-12 3 4 7 4 21 1 3 0 2 31
51 FORTH, Craig........ c 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 6 7 5 2 0 0 0 0 25
03 MCNAMARA, Gerry..... g 8-18 5-13 0-0 1 1 2 3 21 2 1 0 1 37
05 PACE, Josh.......... g 6-12 0-0 2-3 3 4 7 2 14 7 1 0 1 39
42 MCCROSKEY, Louie.... g 4-8 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 0 8 1 0 0 4 21
04 NICHOLS, Demetris... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
13 WATKINS, Darryl..... 0-0 0-0 1-4 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 8
14 EDELIN, Billy....... 4-8 0-0 6-7 2 1 3 3 14 1 2 0 1 26
33 ROBERTS, Terrence... 2-5 0-0 1-1 3 0 3 3 5 0 1 0 0 12
TEAM................ 3 2 5
Totals.............. 32-67 5-15 17-27 18 20 38 22 86 12 8 2 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 38.7% 2nd Half: 20-36 55.6% Game: 47.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-12 83.3% 2nd Half: 7-15 46.7% Game: 63.0% 5
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HOME TEAM: Rutgers 7-9. 1-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 WEBB, Marquis....... f 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 0 2 0 2 11 4 1 0 35
40 BAILEY, Ollie....... f 5-7 0-0 8-9 4 1 5 4 18 1 0 0 1 26
21 JOYNES, Byron....... c 3-4 0-0 3-3 1 1 2 5 9 1 1 1 0 17
02 SHIELDS, Ricky...... g 6-14 4-9 4-4 1 10 11 1 20 3 1 1 1 33
05 DOUBY, Quincy....... g 4-14 3-10 0-0 0 1 1 3 11 4 2 4 0 34
10 QUEZADA, Manny...... 2-4 1-1 4-5 0 3 3 2 9 0 0 0 1 12
13 WIGGAN, Juel........ 1-4 1-1 4-4 2 0 2 1 7 1 2 0 0 16
45 WATERSTRADT, Dan.... 1-4 0-1 2-2 3 4 7 3 4 0 1 1 1 17
55 INGLIS, Jimmie...... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 4 0 1 0 0 10
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 25-57 9-23 25-27 14 21 35 21 84 21 12 8 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-32 56.3% 2nd Half: 7-25 28.0% Game: 43.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-13 46.2% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 39.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-13 92.3% 2nd Half: 13-14 92.9% Game: 92.6% 0,1
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Officials: Steve Welmer, Tim Higgins, Karl Hess
Technical fouls: Syracuse-None. Rutgers-None.
Attendance: 8071
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Syracuse...................... 36 50 - 86
Rutgers....................... 54 30 - 84
ID-319734
Points in the paint-SU 46,RUTGERS 22. Points off turnovers-SU 15,RUTGERS 12.
2nd chance points-SU 28,RUTGERS 11. Fast break points-SU 7,RUTGERS 4.
Bench points-SU 20,RUTGERS 24. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-8 times.
Last FG-SU 2nd-00:07, RUTGERS 2nd-01:41.
