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.
Syracuse attackman Kevin Rice had this to say about his opener. Both individually and as an offense to get going on the right foot. I think it was a total team offensive performance. We had 12 different goal scorers so I think we were doing a good job.
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.
Syracuse will try for the second time this year to defeat a conference foe at home and then sweep them on the road when they travel to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers.