With Syracuse Battling, It Is Boeheim Who Loses His Cool
DURHAM, N.C. - Forward C. J. Fair had never played at Cameron Indoor Stadium before Saturday night. Point guard Tyler Ennis had never dribbled on Coach K Court. Guard Trevor Cooney had never risen for a 3-pointer with the Cameron Crazies screaming at him.
No matter what the Syracuse Orange said before Saturday's game against Duke, nothing could really prepare them for the atmosphere. Yet the Orange, in many ways, proved why they were the No. 1 team in the country when they entered the building.
In the end, it was Coach Jim Boeheim who lost his composure, as No. 5 Duke pulled away late for a 66-60 victory.
With Duke leading, 60-58, Fair made what appeared to be a swooping layup with 10.4 seconds left. But the referee Tony Greene called Fair for an offensive foul against Rodney Hood, who may or may not have established position near the baseline.
Boeheim erupted with fury. He ran onto the court and stomped around near midcourt, pointing at Greene multiple times before Greene whistled him for two technical fouls that led to his ejection - the first of his 38-year career in a regular-season game. Boeheim did not leave the court quietly, shouting expletives as he entered the locker room.
Hood said he was just as surprised at the call as Boeheim was.
'I was shocked,' Hood said. 'I thought I was there, but I didn't expect it, especially with the game being that close, a one-possession game at that time.'
Guard Quinn Cook, who did not shoot well for 39 minutes, made three of four free throws to secure the win.
After the game, Boeheim continued to give his opinion of Greene's call.
'The new rule is it's a block,' Boeheim said. 'It's been explained 1oo times. C. J. got in his motion. I saw the replay and the guy was moving. That's it, simple as that. It's a new rule; it's a block.'
He later added, 'I thought it was the worst call of the year.'
Boeheim mentioned that one of his players, guard Michael Gbinije, had a similar play in the first half (it was called a blocking foul on a drive by Andre Dawkins).
But Boeheim also made jokes about himself after the game.
'I wanted to see if I still had it in me to go out there - and I did,' he said, smiling. 'I thought I was quick. I stayed down and I didn't get injured. All those things are good.'
He continued: 'That was the game decided right there. I would have been happy with a no-call and then let the players finish the game and see what happens.'
In the past decade, Boeheim and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski have become close friends as they have worked together on the United States men's basketball team in the Summer Olympics, Krzyzewski as the head coach and Boeheim as his top assistant.
Krzyzewski said he understood why Boeheim was so upset at the end of the game.
'That's why he's one of the greatest coaches of any sport,' Krzyzewski said. 'You obviously don't want the game to end that way. We're pretty old and we still care.'
Duke (22-6, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) appeared to have the game in hand after Jabari Parker threw down a one-handed, put-back dunk that gave the Blue Devils a 55-49 lead with a little more than four minutes left. But Syracuse (25-2, 12-2 A.C.C.) came back, setting up the memorable ending.
'What's more important is the charge that Rodney did,' Parker said. 'That's the game-winning play. I do stuff and need to do it for my team, but that was really surprising. That really was the turning point.'
Both teams entered Saturday's game after being upset in their previous games. Duke fell to North Carolina, 74-66, on Thursday, and Syracuse was handed its first loss of the season Wednesday against Boston College, 62-59 in overtime.
Going into the game, the question was whether these two teams could create the newest rivalry - and perhaps the biggest one - in the A.C.C. Their first meeting, on Feb. 1 in Syracuse, suggested it could be join the conference's best-known rivalry, North Carolina-Duke.
That game had a little bit of everything. Fair scored a career-high 28 points, Duke's Rasheed Sulaimon swished a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, and Hood thought he was fouled when he tried to dunk over Syracuse's Rakeem Christmas late in overtime. The referees disagreed, and the Orange won, 91-89.
Krzyzewski saw the symbolism in both games as Hood was involved in each game's critical moment.
'The basketball gods, they're the best,' Krzyzewski said. 'They put Rodney in the two defining plays.'
The Orange played most of the second half with a three-guard lineup because of foul trouble. Christmas recorded his fourth foul with 16 minutes remaining, and center Baye Moussa Keita was whistled for his fourth with 12 minutes left.
That gave Duke the advantage it needed, as Krzyzewski put Hood in the middle of Syracuse's zone. Hood, who scored 13 points, created scoring opportunities for Parker (a game-high 19), Quinn Cook (9) and Rasheed Sulaimon (8). But in the end, it came down to a call that could have gone a number of ways.
'This was a tremendous basketball game,' Boeheim said. 'In the beginning of the year, if I could split with Mike, I'd probably have taken it without any hesitation.'
Krzyzewski, who left the court pumping his fist the Cameron Crazies, agreed.
'Going 1-1,' he said, 'is probably the way it should be.'
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