When Syracuse quickened the pace of the game, Wisconsin couldn’t keep up. For 26 minutes, the upset-minded Badgers matched the Orangemen point for point, slowing the game with their trademark low-tempo offense.

Eventually SU went on a 24-6 run to pull away and defeat Wisconsin 68-49 in the championship game of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Classic on Nov. 13, 1999.

The Orangemen’s late second-half run came quickly, spanning nine minutes and giving them an 18-point lead. With his team in firm control of the game after the scoring burst, SU head coach Jim Boeheim had to encourage the fans to keep supporting his team in the closing minutes.

Ryan Blackwell scored a team-high 23 points – including six straight in Syracuse’s mammoth stretch – and tallied 12 rebounds to lead the Orangemen to their second consecutive victory without starting center Etan Thomas.

Blackwell’s play throughout the tournament earned him MVP honors.

‘I had to step up,’ Blackwell said to The Post-Standard. ‘Whether it was scoring, rebounding or defense, I had to step up and that’s what I did.’

The Badgers took an early 11-6 lead, as SU missed eight of its first 10 shots. Midway through the first half, the Orangemen switched to a zone defense and went on an 18-5 run.

But UW came back, taking advantage of Syracuse’s 4-of-10 shooting performance from the foul line in the first half. Despite missing their first nine 3-point attempts, the Badgers trailed by only three points at the break, 28-25.

They then countered an 8-4 Orangemen run at the start of the second half by reeling off seven straight points to knot the game at 36. Preston Shumpert and Jason Hart drained consecutive 3s to turn the momentum back in SU’s favor.

The barrage continued with a Blackwell jumper, a Damone Brown breakaway slam and two more baskets from Blackwell.

His 18-foot jumper gave the Orangemen a 50-40 advantage.

‘He’s not hesitating on his shot,’ Hart said of Blackwell to The Post-Standard. ‘He played good (Friday) and he capped it off today.’
Syracuse kept its foot on the pedal to pull away from Wisconsin and cruise to the win.

Shumpert finished with 15 points. Hart added a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists, joining Blackwell on the all-tournament team.

Without the 6-foot-9 Thomas, who was hospitalized with a staph infection, the Orangemen held tough, dodging an upset bid from the Badgers.

‘If you win these two games with Etan, I think you’d be very happy,’ Boeheim said to The Post-Standard. ‘I thought the composure of the two seniors (Blackwell and Hart) was key. It’s only two games, but last year we wouldn’t have had that composure. I thought Ryan and Jason were huge.’

-Compiled by Stephen Bailey, asst. copy editor, sebail01@syr.edu

Published on March 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm