Arinze Onuaku couldn’t remember the last time he missed a field goal.

It’s not hard to see why. It has been quite a long time. Seventeen shots ago, in fact, dating back almost two weeks.

After Saturday’s game, a 79-55 win for No. 13 Syracuse over Long Beach State, a reporter informed Onuaku about the personal shooting streak. To that, the Orange’s center perked up.

‘Well, what does that tell you?’ Onuaku quipped.

Apparently, it is telling Syracuse’s coaching staff something. The Orange (9-0) ran its offense through Onuaku in the second half, and he scored eight points in the first seven minutes to extend Syracuse’s lead from seven to 21. Onuaku only played 16 minutes Saturday, but went 7-of-7 from the field for a game-high 17 points and at times looked unstoppable in the post.

Onuaku has not missed a field goal since the 15:52 mark of the first half in Syracuse’s game against Colgate on Dec. 1 – a span of 116 minutes. He has shot 50-of-63 this season (79.4 percent) and leads the nation in field goal percentage by a wide margin. The next closest is Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson, who entered the day shooting 72.5 percent.

‘I didn’t even know that,’ forward Paul Harris said of Onuaku’s shooting percentage. ‘We have to go right down to him every play now.’

For long stretches, that’s exactly what Syracuse did, especially in the second half. Just about every time down the floor, a guard passed down on the block to Onuaku, who had his way inside with Brian Freeman and Andrew Fleming of Long Beach State (4-5).

In one two-minute burst, Onuaku scored three consecutive field goals, culminating with a monster two-handed dunk. Onuaku was called for a technical foul for hanging onto the rim too long, but the slam gave the Orange a 16-point lead – its largest of the game to that point.

When Onuaku came out with 13:39 remaining, Syracuse held a 55-34 lead and would ultimately stretch the spread out to 31 points with Onuaku on the bench. As he exited the court, the 17,244 fans at the Carrier Dome gave him a rousing applause, and point guard Jonny Flynn greeted him with a bear hug.

‘We want to get him the ball if we can,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘They were doubling him in the first half, they’re going to do that, but we’ve got to keep patient and keep looking for him.’

Syracuse’s game plan all along, it seemed, was to utilize its centers. Even with Onuaku on the sideline, the Orange consistently looked to feed backup center Rick Jackson, who scored a season-high 11 points. Jackson played 19 minutes – three more than Onuaku – including 12 in the first half. After the game, Jackson said at times even he didn’t know why Boeheim had him in over Onuaku.

Nevertheless, he took advantage of the opportunity. At halftime, Jackson and guard Eric Devendorf shared the team lead with nine points. Devendorf scored 13 points in 24 minutes in his first action since a Syracuse University judiciary board recommended he be suspended for the remainder of the academic year. The case is currently under appeal.

But the story on the court Saturday was about Syracuse’s big men. Primarily Onuaku, and then Jackson. The duo combined for 28 points and 15 rebounds.

‘It wasn’t a lot of games this year we had them both on, rolling, like we did in this game’ Flynn said. ‘…With both of them on like that, it’s pointless not to get them the ball.’

All season long, Syracuse has tried to consistently run off Onuaku, especially in the beginning of halves against smaller teams like the 49ers. On Saturday, the strategy worked to perfection.

The Orange shot poorly from the outside, going 6-of-22 from 3-point range. With Long Beach State hanging around the entire first half, Boeheim started the second half by running a series of plays to his center, expecting Onuaku to dominate the paint.

Onuaku rewarded his coach with his best game of the season and a shooting streak continuing into Monday night’s contest against Cleveland State.

‘When you have a great team like this, sooner or later, you’re going to start to notice me,’ Onuaku said. ‘Today was about my teammates trusting me and me finishing down low.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on December 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm