Irish fall behind for 68-65 loss
By KERRY SMITH
Sports Writer
An effective zone defense and key plays by DeShaun Williams late in the second half Sunday gave No. 21 Syracuse the 68-65 edge against Notre Dame at the Joyce Center.
In a game with 15 lead changes, the Irish and the Orangemen battled back and forth before the Orangemen turned up the heat with six minutes left in regulation.
With the score tied at 56, Williams hit a long 3-pointer to end a two and a half minute scoring drought.
The Irish came back and took a 60-59 lead on two Ryan Humphrey free throws and a Matt Carroll jumper, but Williams struck again from behind the arc to give Syracuse the lead for good.
"DeShaun hit those two threes and that basically broke our backs," Irish forward David Graves said. "We were never able to recover."
Williams led the Orangemen with 18 points.
Trailing 68-65 in the final seconds, Graves had a chance to tie the game, but his 3-point attempt bounced off the rim and into Orangemen hands to end the game.
"I thought he got an average look at the basket," Irish head coach Mike Brey said.
But the Irish had trouble even finding a shot to take.
Syracuse's defense swarmed the perimeter, preventing Notre Dame's deep shooters from getting an open look.
"We needed a three and so they went five-out — they were way out," Graves said. "They played well and executed better than we did."
The Syracuse zone also helped slow the Irish offense down when it counted. In the final minute the trailing Irish brought the ball down the court for its second to last possession looking for a 3-pointer, but after 24 seconds had to settle for a Humphrey dunk.
"Our defense in the second half was as good as it's been all year," Orangemen head coach Jim Boeheim said.
The Irish led by as many as seven in the second half, before the Orangemen went on a 19-8 run to gain a permanent lead.
"We were beaten before [the final possession]," Brey said. "We had a six or seven point lead and then all of a sudden you look up at the scoreboard and we're down. Psychologically that brings you down and that kind of hurt us."
A key to the Syracuse win was an outright dominance on the offensive boards. Bringing down 17 offensive rebounds, the Orangemen scored 16 second-chance points to Notre Dame's six.
"[The rebounding effort] was one of the best in a long time," Boeheim said. "Compared to our worst efforts it was Herculean."
Carroll led the Irish with 18 points, while Humphrey added 15 and Graves chipped in 11.
But the Irish suffered for the second game in a row without the added spark of freshman point guard Chris Thomas.
Thomas, who earned Sports Illustrated's player of the week title last week, went 3-11 and 1-5 from behind the arc Sunday for only eight points.
"He's a little frustrated now. Could it have been any better a week ago? Could he have ridden any higher? Gotten more honors? Been bigger than life?" Brey said. "As he goes, we go."
The Orangemen turned in a balanced-scoring performance, with four players in double-digits. Behind Williams. Kueth Duany scored 12 and Preston Shumpert and James Thues each added 10.
Despite scoring only two points, Jeremy McNeil had a strong showing for Syracuse off the bench. The forward was a key on defense, bringing down eight rebounds and making three blocks.k
"He really came on," Boeheim said. "He had a couple of really good practices this week."
The loss was the second blow in four days, since Rutgers snapped the team's five-game winning streak Thursday.
"It's very disappointing to know we've been in two games like this in a week," Humphrey said. "We're there, we just need to make two or three more plays."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 18, 2002
