Pitarresi: Thabeet beats Orange

Hasheem Thabeet beat Syracuse University’s basketball team tonight.

 

It wasn’t just Thabeet’s rebounding (16) and shot blocking (7) that did in the Orange. No. 1 Connecticut pushed the ball inside to the big (7-foot-3) guy repeatedly, and although he rarely scored, he kicked the ball out to open shooters, breaking down the SU zone. The Huskies made only a modest 6 of 18 3-pointers, but that and SU’s very poor shooting (19 of 60) was more than enough.

 

In one sense, the loss isn’t devastating for SU, even if the Orange have lost six of their last eight, which means they are a .250 team since the grueling portion of their schedule began Jan. 14 at Georgetown. They are 6-6 in the Big East and 18-7 overall, which lines about right with the eighth-place finish the league’s coaches picked them for before the season. Jim Boeheim figures if his team goes 9-9 in the league – there are six games left in the regular season – they’ll be in the NCAA tournament.

 

Probably so, but, gosh, what are the Orange going to do when they get there? SU is not playing good basketball. If the Orange were in this game most of the way, and they were, it was largely thanks to UConn’s 20 turnovers. They got sub-par games from Paul Harris, Eric Devendorf and, 16 points or not, Jonny Flynn. That trio shot a combined 12 of 36 with six assists and 11 turnovers. Arinze Onuaku is still playing hurt and isn’t effective, Rick Jackson didn’t do much and neither did Andy Rautins, who got hurt once again.

 

The guy who did play well was Kristof Ongenaet, who had eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks – he even blocked Thabeet! – and again played with great energy. But the kid can’t score.

 

The season is still salvageable, but …