SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- After more than three decades at Syracuse, coach Jim Boeheim might have to change his coaching methods if this keeps up.
Jonny Flynn and Andy Rautins each scored 15 points, Rick Jackson came off the bench to key a late rally, and Syracuse beat Virginia 73-70 on Friday night, overcoming a 13-point deficit for the second straight game.
"I guess we just need Boeheim to light us up before the game, before we make any mistakes," Flynn said. "We've got to get out of that. If we could just play like that for two halves, the Kansas game would have been a lot easier and this game would have been a lot easier."
Syracuse (6-0) trailed for all but the first two minutes of the opening half as the swarming Cavaliers (3-2) had nine steals and forced 11 turnovers. The second half was a different story as Syracuse had only four turnovers and stepped up its aggressive man defense, holding Virginia to 11-of-29 (37.9 percent) shooting.
"I don't know what it is," Flynn said. "We just come out possessed in the second half."
Syracuse, which beat No. 17 Florida 89-83 and No. 22 Kansas 89-81 in overtime on consecutive nights to win the CBE Classic championship earlier in the week at Kansas City, fell behind 40-37 in the final minute of the first half against the Cavaliers.
Paul Harris and Arinze Onuaku combined for 49 of the Orange's 77 rebounds in the wins over Florida and Kansas and also contributed 32 points apiece. Against Virginia, Onuaku was held scoreless in the first half and went to the bench with his fourth foul at 12:02 of the second after scoring only six points and the Orange down by eight.
As soon as Jackson replaced Onuaku, Syracuse took off. First Eric Devendorf, then Rautins fed Jackson for resounding two-handed slam dunks to move Syracuse within 52-47 at 10:18.
Flynn followed with a reverse layup and, after both Sylven Landesberg and Sammy Zeglinski, the Cavaliers' leading scorers, picked up their fourth fouls, Rautins hit a pair of 3-pointers to put Syracuse up 58-56 at 7:54. With the crowd of 22,096 at feverish pitch, the Orange never trailed again.
"We didn't get that many good looks in the first half on 3-pointers, and we did in the second," Rautins said. "And it turned out to open up the lane and we made some good plays around the basket."
Devendorf finished with 14 points and four assists, Harris had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Jackson added five blocks.
Landesberg had 16 points, Zeglinski and Calvin Baker each had 14, and Mike Scott and Jerome Meyinsse each scored 10.
Devendorf set up Harris for a slam dunk to give Syracuse a 66-60 lead with 3:36 remaining, but the Cavaliers refused to fold.
A layup by Landesberg had Virginia within 66-63 with 74 seconds left. But Flynn, Devendorf and Rautins combined to go 7-of-10 from the free throw line in the final minute, and that was enough to offset two layups by Landesberg and a 3-pointer by Zeglinski in the closing seconds.
"We couldn't finish the game," Zeglinski said. "It's tough not coming out of here with a win. We came out strong and executed our game plan. We didn't execute in the second half. Their intensity picked up and we played into their hands."
The Orange fell behind by as many as eight early in the first half, and when Devendorf was intentionally fouled by Landesberg on a fast-break layup attempt the Orange appeared set to make a charge.
But after Devendorf made both free throws to move Syracuse within 31-27 with 2:23 left, the Cavaliers scored nine straight points. Scott started the surge with a layup, Meyinsse had a two-handed slam dunk, and Baker finished it with a steal and fast-break layup and drained a 3 from right wing with 26 seconds left for a 40-27 lead.
"We definitely had our chances," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "We talked about what they went through at Kansas City and knew it would take a terrific effort to beat them. We maintained ourselves very well for 27-28 minutes. Then they came at us in waves. Their scores came too easily and they were energized by the crowd."
