Each Thursday over the summer, The Juice Online will be counting down the top 10 moments in the 2013-14 basketball season. We continue our countdown with No. 6, Syracuse’s 66-60 loss against Duke at the Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb. 22.
WHAT HAPPENED: College basketball’s most anticipated rematch of the season lived up to the hype, and then some.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was ejected following a controversial charge/block call, and Duke sealed the game with a couple of free throws to win 66-60. The victory avenged a 91-89 overtime loss on Feb. 1 in what was haled as one of the best regular season games of the season, and the beginning of what will likely be one of the fiercest rivalries in the new ACC.
The second chapter did nothing to change that thinking.
The Orange trailed 60-58 with under 10 seconds left when CJ Fair drove baseline and was met in the paint by Rodney Hood. Fair slammed into Hood and was whistled for an offensive foul, though Boeheim (and all Syracuse fans), felt that Hood didn’t have his feet set.
» Related: No. 7 – Syracuse cruises past North Carolina
Boeheim stormed on the court and began yelling expletives at the official who blew the whistle, Tony Greene. That resulted in an ejection, and eliminated any shot of Syracuse winning the game.
“I just thought that was the worst call of the year, that’s all,” Boeheim said. “I hated to see the game decided on that call.”
Though the game will mostly be remembered for Boeheim’s tirade, there was plenty of exciting basketball on the court, with both teams jockeying for the lead throughout the game. The teams went into halftime tied, and neither team led by more than six points in the second half.
The Orange nearly overcame an awful offensive night from their starting backcourt. Trevor Cooney finished with just four points on 1-5 shooting, while Tyler Ennis was 2-13 from the floor for nine points. Meanwhile, Jabari Parker led Duke with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
WHY IT’S NO. 6: Though Syracuse was on the wrong side of this game, Boeheim’s ejection became an overnight sensation, and multiple memes of his jacket toss went viral. The jacket itself ended up being auctioned for $14,000 at a charity event. “For somebody like me — this was perfect,” Neil Gold, the person who won the auction, said to Syracuse.com’s Donna Ditota. “It was the first time we played Duke at Cameron. It was the first time Coach was thrown out of a real game. It’s part of Syracuse basketball lore now.”
Check in next week as we reveal No. 5 on our countdown.
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