He ripped the rebound from his teammate and took off, a 258-pound freight train rumbling down the floor.

‘I took two dribbles, and it was just like opened up for me,’ Syracuse center Arinze Onuaku said.

‘So I kept pushing.’

And so, late in the second half Wednesday, Onuaku chugged forward and threw down a two-hand slam, as the Carrier Dome crowd erupted, his teammates beamed, and DePaul defenders gawked.

Onuaku turned to the Blue Demons caught up in his wake and flashed his hand back-and-forth in front of his face, the international symbol for ‘You can’t see me.’

Oh, but DePaul could. They could feel him, too. Onuaku bullied his way to 14 points and 12 rebounds Wednesday, anchoring No. 11 Syracuse’s ironclad interior presence in an 85-68 win over DePaul.

Syracuse pounded the ball inside all night, racking up 50 points in the paint and 11 from the free throw line. Guards Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins combined for eight three-pointers, but the Orange spent most of the day grinding near the hoop. The team generated offense with a collection of lay-ins, put-backs and even an alley-oop tap-in from point guard Jonny Flynn. Syracuse also out-rebounded its opponents by nine.

Onuaku’s dunk was only the exclamation point of the inside dominance.

After the center rattled the rim, Flynn dissolved into laughter behind him.

‘I told him,’ Flynn said, ”Man, you can’t keep doing that. You make me look bad if you’re out their pushing the rock like that.’

‘He does it in practice, but Coach always get on him. So when he gets that opportunity . . .’

Onuaku destroyed a backboard once, at Midnight Madness last year. The Carrier Dome rims proved sturdier than those at Manley Field House, but that held little weight with the Syracuse faithful.

Of course, while the crowd loved the dunk, the win was earned earlier. Paul Harris (14 points, nine rebounds), Rick Jackson (11 points, six rebounds) and Onuaku controlled the game’s core throughout, blocking shots, forcing turnovers and snatching up rebounds.

‘I thought Arinze and Ricky and Paul did a pretty good job on the boards for us,’ said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim.

The play inside for Syracuse masked shooting struggles – 47 percent from the floor – and turnover troubles – 14 turnovers total, nine in the second half.

‘I think we came out a little sluggish,’ Flynn said.

Onuaku was the anchor, as he rounds into form two years removed from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. This season, he’s averaging 12.3 points a game, fourth-most on this balanced Syracuse squad. His eight rebounds-per-game trails only Harris’ 8.5.

And now, Onuaku can add a full-court slam to his highlight reel.

Said Onuaku: ‘It just looked so good.’

Rautins rolls

Jonny Flynn doesn’t care how far out Andy Rautins traipses. Flynn wants his point guard to keep shooting.

‘I keep telling him ‘Shoot it,” Flynn said. ”If you’re 30 feet out, just let that thing go.’ Keep the defense honest, and keep them knowing that he will step out there and hit an open shot.’

Flynn has reason to be confident.

Rautins shot 50 percent (5-for-10) from behind the arc Wednesday, and lead the Orange with 17 points. He also chipped in six assists.

Rautins has averaged 22 points a night during the past four games.

‘We’re gonna just ride this out,’ Flynn said. ‘Whenever he’s like this, we’re going to just keep trying to get him the ball.’

Rautins’ faux-hawk is still in place, and so is his shooting stroke.

Healthy returns

On Saturday, guard Eric Devendorf suffered a hip pointer early on in a game against South Florida. Paul Harris sat the whole game, nursing a split ring finger.

On Wednesday, both returned strong. Devendorf came off the bench to score 17 points in 32 minutes, a late-game complement to the hot-shooting Rautins. Devendorf had missed a few days of practice, but he didn’t miss from behind the arc, going 3-for-3.

‘I’m surprised that he shot the ball so well,’ Boeheim said. ‘He didn’t move that well but, you know, Eric can shoot the basketball.’

Harris, meanwhile, cracked the 1,000 career scoring plateau with a second half lay-up. He is the 15th Syracuse player to reach that mark.

‘I think he was rusty at first,’ Boeheim said. ‘He missed a couple easy ones. That’s probably to be expected. But he made a couple put-backs. His defense was good. He got on the boards, which I think was important.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on January 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm