Cleveland State coach Gary Waters has had bad luck with Syracuse. The Vikings have had great luck in Syracuse. Today the two shall meet.
While with Rutgers, Waters experienced just too many close losses to count, at least when it came to playing Syracuse. There was the game in 2005 when Quincy Douby dropped a three pointer three-quarters down the net before it popped out. Rutgers lost at the buzzer. Then there was the 2006 game when Douby went off for more than 40, but power forward Terrence Roberts hit a three to win for SU – in overtime. Roberts is notba three-point threat.
Cleveland State had never met SU, but it had played in the Carrier Dome. It was the 1986 NCAA Tournament when the 14th seeded Vikings went 2-0 in Syracuse en route to a Sweet-16. It still stands as CSU’s only NCAA appearance.
Something had to give – and it was the Waters losing streak. A perfect 9-0, No. 11 Syracuse fell to the Vikes on a buzzer beater. It was the buzzer beater of buzzer beaters. With 2.2 seconds and the game tied at 69, CSU inbounded the ball to St. John’s transfer Cedric Jackson. Almost the full length of the court from the hoop, Jackson shot, not heaved, but shot a desperate prayer. God answered, and Waters thanked him endlessly in the postgame news conference. Waters said it was He that guided the shot. Swish…Cleveland State had pulled an upset.
It was another “slow start” for the Orange. Jonny Flynn didn’t use the word slow – he just said there were too many missed shots and turnovers. However you spin it though, SU didn’t come out of the gate playing like it could. The Orange allowed CSU to hang around and was again outrebounded in the first half (and overall). Coach Jim Boeheim summed it up easily – “We’ve got to play better.”
“I don’t think we can beat a team in our league they way we’re playing right now,” Boeheim said. “I don’t believe we can. A 6-4 guy took our center and scored four straight baskets in the low post. If we can’t stop a 6-4 guy what are we going to do with [Connecticut Center Hasheem] Thabeet, Sam Young, [Notre Dame forward Luke] Harangody? We’ve got no chance if we can’t stop a 6-4 guy.”
The 6-4 guy was CSU’s J’Nathan Bulluck, who torched SU for 16 points in the second half (many in the post) after having shot 0-9 in the first frame.
Further Postgame quotes from SU athletics…
Andy Rautins, Jr., Guard
On if it helps that the team only has a day and a half before the next game:
“Yeah, we’re not going to dwell on this. We’ll learn from our mistakes tonight and we’ll try and come out more aggressive every time. We can’t keep beat ourselves by committing turnovers and giving them so many second-chance points like we did tonight.”
On the mood in the lockerroom after the game:
“It was a pretty somber atmosphere. I mean, nobody likes losing. But we can’t keep our heads down for very long. We have to get back at it. We’re a resilient team and we’re going to fight through this long season.”
On getting off to slow starts:
“I’ve said it time and again and tonight it happened. So, that’s the price we pay for not coming out aggressive enough and taking advantage of our offense late in games and giving up second-chance points and giving up all the turnovers we made. We just beat ourselves, really.”
On if this loss was a wake-up call:
“Yeah, Coach (Boeheim) was saying it would be okay if this happened one time. If we got beat one time and didn’t show up one night. But I mean, we didn’t show up a bunch of nights. Luckily we just won the games. We don’t think it is okay by any means, but maybe this will wake us up a little bit.”
On the tempo of the game:
“We went bucket-for-bucket with them, which is not ideally what we wanted to do. They got the ball back on offensive rebounds. They just pulled it out and made the shots late and capitalized late on the shot clock. We can’t play games like that. We can’t go bucket-for-bucket.”
Paul Harris, Jr., Forward
On if he thought Cleveland State had enough time to get off a shot at the end:
“I looked up at the clock and I saw that there was two seconds left. But I didn’t know it was going to go in.”
On if he thought Cleveland State’s final shot was going in:
“I just saw it keep floating and I was like ‘Aw, man’ and I watched it go right in. I knew it was good, too, so I just walked right out. I knew it was good.”
On if it helps that the team only has a day and a half before the next game:
“Oh, without a doubt. After a loss like this, you want to get back on the floor as soon as possible. It’s a good thing we play on Wednesday. We can go right back out and play the way we play against Canisius.”
On rebounding:
“I think that they just wanted it more. They had a lot of little guys and they were just going after a lot of loose balls and the balls were bouncing their way sometimes, too.”
On why the team can’t get in a rhythm:
“I don’t know. I think we had too many turnovers and they were making extra passes and we were just shooting on the post pass. It just looked like they were the better team tonight.”
On the team’s defense late in the game:
“I was saying, whatever number the guy was who had the braids (J’Nathan Bullock), he was killing us inside. There were a couple times where I should have come over and helped Arinze (Onuaku) out, but I thought they had a shooter on my side so I didn’t leave. I probably should’ve doubled him. He just had a great second half.”
Arinze Onuaku, Jr., Center
On how Cleveland State attacked Syracuse:
“It’s always tough when any team makes you play defense 35 seconds every possession. It’s always tough.”
On if he’s ever lost a game at the buzzer:
“I’ve never seen anything like that. I mean, I’ve seen it, but I was never a part of it.”
On if he saw a loss like this coming:
“No, I’m definitely in shock. Coach (Boeheim) has been harping on us to play from the beginning so we don’t have to come back and this is what happened.”
On if he thinks about missed layups and free throws:
“There were a lot of things that we could correct. We have to start from the beginning and make sure we’re finishing, making our free throws and things like that.”
