The man who had carried Syracuse all night didn’t even follow the team to the offensive end after grabbing another rebound. This time, Arinze Onuaku knew the Orange’s shot would fall.

‘You can just tell when good things are about to happen,’ Onuaku said. ‘Like on a fast break, if I catch it and throw the outlet (pass), I know they’re about to score.’

Even after Syracuse had already missed 16 3-pointers?

‘Oh yeah, definitely. Wide open 3? They’re going to hit that most of the time.’

Well, this time he was right. There was no need for Onuaku to rebound another of SU’s missed shots from deep, much like he had done for the entire game to keep the Orange ahead. Jonny Flynn’s 3-pointer from the corner dropped, and Syracuse finally put Tulane away.

The sophomore center Onuaku put up the second double-double of his career – and in as many games – to help save Syracuse from its poor shooting performance as the Orange defeated visiting Tulane, 73-60, Saturday night in front of 21,173 at the Carrier Dome.

Syracuse improved to 5-2 and will next travel to Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia for an important road game Wednesday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN2).

Onuaku and Paul Harris combined for 15 offensive rebounds and 29 points, while Flynn led the team with 17 points. Eric Devendorf added 16 points.

But that hot-shooting and run-and-gun offense that Syracuse has ridden almost the entire season gave way to a slower half-court offense. That’s mainly because Syracuse wasn’t hitting from deep.

If SU meant to have more of an inside game, it was by accident.

‘The team wasn’t shooting well, so there’s a lot of shots coming off,’ Onuaku laughed, realizing the understatement. ‘We just tried to get into position. We’ve been working on that the last couple days, also, getting in the right position to get offensive rebounds.’

Syracuse attempted 20 3-pointers and missed 16 of them. But the Orange scored 24 second-chance points, most of them off Onuaku and Harris rebounds. Tulane (3-3) had only nine such points. Onuaku finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds.

‘In a game like this, when you’re not making the 3, you’ve got to find a way,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘We rebounded. We got on the boards. We got some penetration in the second half. Jonny and Eric (Devendorf) both – they didn’t get the assist, but they put the ball up right there on the backboard, and Arinze got the finish.’

Flynn’s 3-pointer that Onuaku set up with a defensive rebound and outlet pass put the Orange ahead, 60-47, with six minutes remaining. On the next trip down the court, Devendorf buried a trey that extended the lead to 14 points, and all of a sudden, Syracuse had made two 3-pointers in a row after missing seven consecutive ones.

With Syracuse’s leading scorer Donte Greene going 1-of-12 from the field, the Orange needed Onuaku’s and Harris’ production down low. It also helped that Syracuse turned in its best defensive effort of the season.

The 60 Tulane points were a season-low allowed by the Orange.

‘I thought we made a tremendous effort to play defense tonight,’ Boeheim said. ‘I think that’s going to help us in the long run. Particularly early, we really did a tremendous job.’

Three nights after allowing a Carrier Dome record of 107 points in a loss to Massachusetts, Syracuse did not surrender a point to Tulane in the first 5:11 of the game, jumping out to a 9-0 advantage.

The Orange’s man-to-man defense was active, with both Flynn and Harris making plays on the ball and creating offensive opportunities the other way.

‘The last two days of practice, we just tried to take a lot of pride in our defense, making stops,’ Onuaku said. ‘It wasn’t the defense we were playing, it was the hustle plays and things like that.’

But the Green Wave never went away because of 14 Orange turnovers. Syracuse had the lead up to 14 with 4:28 left in the first half. By halftime, it was down to seven, 28-21. It wasn’t until Flynn and Devendorf’s back-to-back 3-pointers late in the second half that the Orange rebuilt the lead back to 14.

And if it hadn’t been for Onuaku and Harris in between all those missed shots, the game could have ended a lot differently.

‘Obviously, if we shoot the ball well from the 3, it’s a little bit easier tonight,’ Boeheim said. ‘But we’ll take it.’

Published on December 2, 2007 at 12:00 pm