NEW YORK (AP) – Preston Shumpert has had four games of 30 points
or more this season and two have been against Connecticut.
The junior forward had 31 points Wednesday night to lead Syracuse (No. 14 ESPN/USA Today, No. 17 AP) to an 86-75 victory that advanced the Orangemen to the
quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.
|  | | Preston Shumpert takes on UConn's Souleymane Wane under the basket. Shumpert dominated the Huskies once again with 31 points. |
"You don't really expect to come right back on the same team
like that," said Shumpert, who had 34 against the Huskies in a
65-60 victory Feb. 19. "Sometimes a guy gets the hot hand. The
game at Syracuse was a different kind of game."
The Orangemen (23-7) will play Providence on Thursday – the
first meeting of the teams this season.
"We came out so ready tonight I wish we could play the next
game in a few hours," Shumpert said.
Connecticut (19-11) will now have to wait until Sunday to find
out if it will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
"I think our league should get seven out of 14. We're more than
good enough to go," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "Teams
have beat each other up all season. We didn't have a soft out. If
you're looking for quality wins, we have them. One loss is not
going to mar what we've done."
Combined with defending champion St. John's 78-66 loss to Seton
Hall earlier in the day, it marked the first time since 1991 the
teams from the previous year's title game were both eliminated in
the opening round. The Huskies had become the first team to play
four games in the tournament when they made their runner-up run
last season.
Syracuse shot 56 percent from the field (11-for-26) in taking a
47-38 halftime lead. The Orangemen extended the lead to 66-49 with
10:24 left on a dunk by Damone Brown. The Huskies were able to get
within 66-55 with 8:13 to play on a driving layup by Taliek Brown.
Allen Griffin, who had a career-high 31 points on the same
Madison Square Garden court in Sunday's double-overtime win over
St. John's to close the regular season, then hit a 3-pointer from
the left side. Brown scored again for the Huskies, but Shumpert
then hit a dead-on 3 from beyond the NBA line to give Syracuse a
72-57 lead and Damone Brown made two free throws with 6:29 left to
restore the 17-point lead. Connecticut never got closer than 11
points until the final 3-pointer with nine seconds left.
"When I came to the bench Coach said that was a crazy shot,"
Shumpert said of the last of his four 3-pointers. "I told him I
was going for the nail in the coffin and he just said, 'Well, you
made it.' "
Brown finished with 18 points for the Orangemen, while Griffin
and DeShaun Williams each added 14. Kueth Duany had nine points as
five players scored all the points for Syracuse, which shot 50
percent for the game (29-for-58).
"That's probably the best we've played all year and I thought
Connecticut played well, too," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said.
"The first half was one of those offensive halfs where every play
we called worked. Everything we did worked offensively. We've been
playing better the last few games and that's good. It's important
to come to this tournament and play well and we did that."
Caron Butler had 14 points for the Huskies, while Johnnie Selvie
added 14.
The win was the 598th for Boeheim, tying him with Calhoun. It
also snapped Connecticut's four-game winning streak over the
Orangemen in the Big East tournament.
"That's a very good and very experienced Syracuse team,"
Calhoun said. "It was a mismatch tonight. We had more problems
than we should have had. They came in and did the job they needed
to do and we didn't."
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Connecticut Clubhouse
Syracuse Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Syracuse's DeShaun Williams feeds Damone Brown for the alley-oop.
avi: 829 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Syracuse's Preston Shumpert nails the three from behind the NBA arch.
avi: 872 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Syracuse's DeShaun Williams fakes a drive to the lane and pulls up for the jumper.
avi: 857 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
UConn's Caron Butler draws the contact and drains the jumper.
avi: 498 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
UConn's Souleymane Wane grabs the board and gets the putback.
avi: 758 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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