Down in the bowels of Carrier Dome, Jim Boeheim took questions from reporters in the media room. Further down the hallway, Louisville’s head coach Rick Pitino was relegated to answering questions in the visiting team’s locker room. The two stood in different rooms, but echoed similar feelings as to how the Cardinals edged out the Orange, 67-57, Sunday.

‘I think it’s offensive rebounding,’ Pitino said. ‘We were great on the offensive glass.’

‘I thought that key play was when they missed that shot and then (Earl) Clark got the 3, that was really the one play of the game,’ Boeheim said. It was two good defensive teams and neither team was making anything. I thought it came down to that one big play, and we didn’t get that rebound.’

It was one of 21 offensive rebounds the Cardinals grabbed. It led to an open look for Clark, who had a game-high five offensive boards, to sink a 3-pointer to recapture the lead Louisville had surrendered just a minute prior.

It also sparked a 9-0 run by the Cardinals that that spanned 2.5 of the last three minutes of the game, which put the contest out of reach for the Orange.

All this the result of an offensive rebound.

‘I think the one key stat if you look at was rebounding,’ SU point guard Jonny Flynn said. ‘They got a lot of extra possessions that they scored off of. We really have to cut down on the possessions and hit the boards and start our offense out fast.’

Louisville outscored the Orange, 15-13, in second-chance points, eight of which came in the second half. What hurt the Orange more than second-chance points, was how the offensive rebounding of the Cardinals crippled its fast break.

The offensive rebounds prevented any hopes of turning a rebound into an outlet pass and pushing the ball up the court. Combine that with Louisville’s full-court press after nearly every made basket and the opportunity to run wasn’t available. Syracuse finished the game with 13 points on the fast break and only two in the second half.

‘(Running the fast break) is what we do,’ Kris Joseph said when asked if it was Louisville prowess on the boards that prevented SU from running. ‘They did a great job of doing what they were supposed to do. It really stopped us from running our fast break so I think they got their job completed.’

Due to the lack of running, SU only put 57 points on the board, 23 less than the Big East’s second-most prolific offense is used to. With all the second opportunities, Louisville accumulated a decisive shot advantage, hurling 18 more shots than its counterpart.

At halftime, Louisville had 14 offensive rebounds – Syracuse had 14 total rebounds. In one sequence to end the half, Louisville missed four-consecutive shots while grabbing each successive rebound.

Both teams entered the game averaging 40 rebounds a game while holding their opponents to 35. The Cardinals grabbed 44 rebounds and held the Orange to 37. The Orange mustered 13 offensive boards of its own, but it wasn’t enough.

‘I mean, when you’re in a zone, they just went hard to the glass,’ Arinze Onuaku, who finished with nine rebounds, four of which were offensive. ‘Everybody’s trying to identify someone to rebound they’re sending three, four guys to the glass. I mean, it’s tough.’

The 44 rebounds were the most allowed by Syracuse since Dec. 20, when Memphis cleaned the glass with 45 rebounds. Last year the Cardinals had even more overall success rebounding, grabbing 53 rebounds.

This year the total number of rebounds was down, but Louisville improved upon the number Pitino really cared about – offensive rebounds.

‘We felt that that was a major key to keep them off the break,’ Pitino said after tallying his first win in four tries at the Carrier Dome. ‘…The key is getting second shots. And last year we had 19. And I said if we get 19, get it again, we’re going to be tough to beat, and we got 21.’

mibonner@syr.edu

Published on January 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm