Christmas’ 29-point performance carries Syracuse to 69-59 upset win over No. 12 Louisville
Chase Gaewski | Staff Photographer
Rakeem Christmas gets set to release one of his 13 free throws against Louisville. He made 11 of them, which contributed to his 29 points in SU's 10-point upset win over the No. 12 Cardinals.
It was Rakeem Christmas’ team again.
Syracuse’s backbone for most of the season was no such thing in his last two outings, deferring to Michael Gbinije to bring the Orange past Boston College and come up short against Duke on Saturday.
But the big man took the reins back Wednesday night.
Three nights after shrinking in his biggest challenge of the season against Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, Christmas responded to carry Syracuse (17-9, 8-5 Atlantic Coast) past No. 12 Louisville (20-6, 8-5), 69-59, on Wednesday night in the Carrier Dome. The big man scored 29 points on 9-of-10 shooting to go with eight rebounds and 11-of-13 makes from the free-throw line.
Shooting 53.8 percent from the floor in the first half compared to the Orange’s 39.3, the Cardinals took a 32-28 lead into halftime. Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell had 11 points to his name and Christmas had 12.
Christmas started off his night with a pair of easy dunks, but also toughened up for a pair of baskets over Harrell.
He misfired on a one-hander from the paint, but hustled back on defense to snatch a lob attempt, with the same hand, that was intended for Harrell to throw down. Then a baby hook to bring SU within a point.
And after Terry Rozier, the ACC’s third-leading scorer, dropped a floater over the SU senior, Christmas responded with back-to-back baskets that stirred the crowd and hinted at the Orange’s potential upset over the Cardinals was not only a possibility, but in fact a reality.
He attacked from the short corner to float in a basket, drawing a foul on Chinanu Onuaku in the process, but made the ensuing free throw.
Then when UofL’s David Levitch missed a 3 and SU came back hustling, Gbinije dished off to Christmas, who thrilled the audience with a swooping dunk from the left side for a four-point lead.
He scored seven points from there to cap off his 17-point half, piggybacking SU to the upset.
And as the Carrier Dome rose into an uproar in the final 10 seconds of the game, Christmas waved his arms up three times and nodded his head twice in approval, before heading into the tunnel with SU’s most impressive win of the year.
Published on February 18, 2015 at 9:07 pm
Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb
