The SU hoops outfit, coming off a woeful home loss this past Saturday to Georgia Tech, scratched and clawed its way to a 95-91 overtime conquest of No. 1 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Such a typical ‘Cuse thing to do. Get smacked at the Carrier Dome by the Yellow Jackets, a formidable defensive unit that struggles to score, then head out on the road as a 17-point underdog to the Blue Devils and prevail.
I can’t overstate how much this success means to the Orange (12-5, 3-1). A pedestrian non-conference performance, coupled with the most-recent setback to GT, likely had most college-basketball pundits projecting Syracuse as presently outside the field of 68 for the Big Dance.