SPORTS
THURSDAY
january 31, 2013
McDonald plans to orchestrate physical, explosive SU offense By Ryne Gery STAFF WRITER
T
he skepticism started to form immediately when Northern Illinois wide receiver Darrell Hill walked into his new position coach’s office. George McDonald was just three years removed from his playing days at Illinois, and Hill already had some questions before taking a seat for his first individual meeting with him. “First of all I’m like, ‘Who’s this young guy that’s
SEE MCDONALD PAGE 22
VISIONS
photos by luke rafferty | asst. photo editor GEORGE MCDONALD AND CHUCK BULLOUGH have been hired by new SU head coach Scott Shafer to take over the offense and defense, respectively. The trio worked together at Western Michigan.
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the daily orange
Bullough brings tough, aggressive approach to Syracuse defense By Chris Iseman SPORTS EDITOR
O
n the first day they met in Kalamazoo, Mich., Scott Shafer and Chuck Bullough realized their football philosophies were almost identical. Their defensive schemes were similar, and their approaches to developing players the same. Shafer and Bullough worked in tandem to build a sturdy defense at Western Michigan in 2005. Eight years later, they’re together again to do the
SEE BULLOUGH PAGE 22
Despite loss, Orange stays confident heading to Pittsburgh By Ryne Gery STAFF WRITER
Standing in the visitors’ locker room at the Wells Fargo Center, Brandon Triche answered each question with unwavering confidence. Who: Pittsburgh S y r a Where: Pittsburgh, Pa. When: Saturday, noon cuse’s Channel: ESPN loss to Villanova was tough, but it was just one game. There was no cause for concern or
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need to worry. His team still sat atop the Big East standings. “At this point, we’ve only lost one game, still No. 1 in the Big East and that puts us in a great position,” Triche said. “You don’t like to lose games where you think you should win, but maybe the last two games, we probably shouldn’t have won one of those games. “Sometimes it’s going to work out for you, sometimes it won’t.” Syracuse (18-2, 6-1 Big East) will look to bounce back when it takes on
Pittsburgh (17-5, 5-4) at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday at noon. Conference play hasn’t been easy for the No. 6 Orange despite its spot in first place alongside Marquette. SU has had to battle in every game since its rout of Rutgers in the conference opener, with the last three games coming down to the final buzzer. Triche and his teammates came out on the wrong side of a close contest Saturday in a 75-71 overtime loss to the Wildcats. But they all echoed the senior guard’s words on the team’s
AT A GLANCE
“LeBron is no different from Joe Johnson or Andray Blatche. No different.”
Reggie Evans
NETS FORWARD BEFORE SCORING 0 POINTS IN A LOSS TO THE HEAT
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mindset moving forward. “We’re a great team and everybody takes their losses,” SU forward Jerami Grant said. “We just got to come back stronger the next one.” That goal got a little tougher without center DaJuan Coleman, who underwent knee surgery and is expected to miss four weeks recovering. Coleman started all 20 games this season, so SU head coach Jim Boeheim will have to shuffle his rotation, which is down to seven players, as James Southerland remains ineligible.
TWEET OF THE DAY @scoopjardine: Congrats to
my Lil brother @dionwaiters3 for making it to the rookie Allstar game!!! #phillystandup
Syracuse’s offense has sputtered at times without the 6-foot-8 Southerland and his ability to knock down jump shots and 3-pointers. The scoring load has fallen on the shoulders of Triche, Michael Carter-Williams and C.J. Fair, and they’ve all had trouble finding consistent rhythm in Big East play. The Orange has also seen few opportunities to get out on the fast break in conference play, something Triche said highlights the struggles to make shots in its half-court sets.
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SEE PITTSBURGH PAGE 24
STATFormer OF THESyracuse DAY star
Carmelo Anthony became the first player in New York Knicks history to score 20 points in 30 straight games.