Poll Question: How successful will the Orange ultimately be?
SU fans may have lost a few more fingernails on Saturday night against Marquette than they originally thought they would at halftime, but the # 1 Orange earned themselves further confidence in the process. SU played themselves to a 23 point lead in the first half only to watch it dwindle down to two points in the 2nd half. That forced the Orange to once again prove their resilience with an eventual 73-66 win, something that helped earn them the # 1 ranking on the AP basketball poll for the 5th straight week on Monday. It was a great lesson for the Orange early in their Big East schedule, further proof of what they have in them, and what could happen if they let up.
"I think that we need to work on that a little bit," says junior guard Brandon Triche, "we should have never of gotten it down under 10 points, but we stuck it out. We hit a couple shots. Dion was big for us defensively. He made us a lot of free buckets and ultimately helped us win."
Waiters' biggest play of the game was arguably his block of Darius Johnson-Odom's three point attempt that would have moved the Golden Eagles to within one point Syracuse. Waiters cashed in the layup at the other end, part of what could very well have been a 5 point swing, and supplied Syracuse with the momentum to remain undefeated.
"It was big," says Waiters, "the momentum changed and it got the crowd involved. I always look forward to the crowd pumping me up and that's what I try to do. I made the play and told the crowd to get loud."
"Yes, that shows the character and heart we have," says freshman C.J. Fair, "Marquette's confidence was sky high after they made a big run, and put themselves back in the game. They got our lead down to two and then Brandon Triche hit a big three and then we kept scoring. Dion got a big block on Odom on the three-point line. I knew when he got that we had them."
