I recently was part of a conversation regarding college basketball venues. The general consensus among my peers seemed to indicate that arenas like Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium and Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse were the best arenas. They’re cozy, loud, and full of antiquated history.
Following Syracuse’s narrow escapes over Pittsburgh and North Carolina State last week, a new narrative has emerged to describe the Orange’s best start in school history. SU has been lucky. The Orange shouldn’t be undefeated. Perhaps Florida is the nation’s best team.
On this President’s Day holiday with rapidly only six regular season games left for No. 1 ranked Syracuse basketball to navigate in ACC play, Jim Boeheim’s 38th team has dazzled Orange Nation in unprecedented fashion.
Christmas had 14 points and set career highs with 12 rebounds and seven blocks as Syracuse earned its 10th single-digit win despite shooting 35.2 percent.
Rakeem Christmas had a key steal to set up C.J. Fair’s winning layup with 6.7 seconds left, helping No. 1 Syracuse edge North Carolina State 56-55 on Saturday night to remain unbeaten.
TJ Warren has done it all for NC State, averaging a team-high 23.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. In an 82-67 win over Wake Forest on Tuesday, Warren went off for 34 points and 10 rebounds, including 15 for 26 shooting from the field.
Just when it looked like Pittsburgh would once again prove to be a thorn in the side of Syracuse Wednesday night, freshman point guard Tyler Ennis added another superlative to his season, pulling up and banging home a 35-footer to pull out a 58-56 SU win.
Tyler Ennis’ 3-pointer as time expired kept Syracuse perfect on the season. The Orange trailed by as many as six points with 1:42 left but CJ Fair and Ennis responded with 10 points to give Syracuse a 55-54 with 10 seconds left.