TAMPA, Fla. – As South Florida slowly crept back into the game, it became abundantly clear just how much Syracuse missed Paul Harris Friday night. Harris didn’t play at all against South Florida after splitting open his ring finger Tuesday against Seton Hall.

And during the game, it was impossible to know just how shorthanded the Orange truly was. Unbeknownst to the fans and media, shooting guard Eric Devendorf had suffered a hip pointer early in the game that limited him to a painful 24 minutes.

It led to SU head coach Jim Boeheim using just six healthy players in the Orange’s 59-54 victory over the Bulls.

Harris was in uniform and warmed up during the pre-game shootaround. When Syracuse came back onto the court for layup lines, Harris remained in the locker room. He joined his teammates for the final warm-up session and appeared ready to try and play, but remained on the bench. Freshman Kris Joseph made his first career start in Harris’ stead and scored seven points in 28 minutes of action.

‘Paul possibly could have played, but he really had pain in it,’ Boeheim said. ‘He would have struggled shooting it. It just wasn’t to be. I think if we had gotten off to a bad start, maybe I would have gone to him early. When I didn’t go with him early, I wasn’t going to try to wedge him in there late. He wouldn’t have been ready.’

Devendorf said he hurt his hip on the second or third play of the game when he collided inside with one of South Florida’s big men. Though he remained in the game and finished with eight points, Devendorf was sore the entire night and his status for Wednesday’s game against DePaul is unknown.

‘It was excruciating pain throughout the whole game,’ Devendorf said. ‘It definitely slowed me down. …It’s sore now, man. It’s sore, real sore.’

Free throws still costly

Syracuse’s struggles from the free throw line were evident again Friday night, when the Orange’s poor shooting almost let South Florida complete an improbable comeback. SU finished 7-of-18 from the stripe (38.9 percent). Syracuse came into the game shooting 65.8 percent for the season.

Nobody was worse than Arinze Onuaku. The Orange’s center was just 1-of-9 and missed badly on several occasions. The usually reliable Jonny Flynn missed two attempts of his own, too.

After the game, Onuaku had little to say about his poor shooting. Boeheim, however, had a mouthful.

‘He was shooting it better at the beginning, now he’s throwing the ball up there,’ Boeheim said. ‘He’s just shot-putting it. He was really making some progress, it started to slip a little the last game or so, and now he’s just throwing it up there. He’s not even shooting it. It has no chance to go in.’

Rautins still on track

Shooting guard Andy Rautins continued his hot play in South Florida. Rautins, who has retained his starting spot after Eric Devendorf returned from his two-game suspension, led Syracuse 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range. He also added seven rebounds and four assists while playing all 40 minutes for the first time in his collegiate career.

Rautins started the season slow, prompting Boeheim to question his shot selection and decision making. Since then, Rautins has been one of the Orange’s best players, scoring 29 against Coppin State on Dec. 22 and then 27 Tuesday against Seton Hall.

‘My wind feels good, I’m in great shape,’ Rautins said. ‘Just glad to be out there to be a vocal leader and make some plays for these guys.’

jediamon@syr.edu

Published on January 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm