A month ago, Arinze Onuaku was perpetually grinding through the recovery process. Head coach Jim Boeheim placed him on a timetable and said it would still be a few more weeks before everyone would see the real Onuaku, pain-free after surgery on both of his knees.

But after a powerful one-handed slam Sunday, followed by a crushing block on the next possession, Onuaku stood at mid-court, fanning himself and soaking in a round of applause. It was perhaps a gesture that suggested things are going ahead of schedule.

‘He’s doing all right,’ Boeheim said. ‘I think he’s pretty much pain-free. He has some problems some days, but I think overall he’s making some progress.’

With a team-high 14 points, Onuaku paced a dominant effort by the Syracuse frontcourt Sunday in a 75-51 win over St. Francis (N.Y.) in front of 19,381 at the Carrier Dome. All three members of the Orange frontcourt reached double digits, while also combining for a total of 18 rebounds.

No. 7 Syracuse (10-0) is off to its best start since 1999-2000, when it began the season 19-0 and reached the Sweet 16.

‘We have a huge advantage in there,’ Boeheim said about his frontcourt. ‘I think the one thing we are doing well is we are looking for that, and that’s a good thing.’

From the opening tip, it became apparent that the Orange was diverging from its run-and-gun offense that had been so prevalent in each of the team’s first nine games. Instead of relying on turnovers to create fast breaks, the guards provided Onuaku, Wes Johnson and Rick Jackson ample opportunities to post up on a relatively small Terrier defense.

Each of the team’s first six points came off a shot directly underneath the basket or off second-chance opportunities.

‘We’re big down there, very athletic,’ Johnson said. ‘That’s where it starts for us down there.’

But even a valiant effort around the glass couldn’t make up for a sputtering Orange defense in the early going. Sharp-shooting efforts from St. Francis’ Ricky Cadell and Akeem Bennett erased leads, as large as 10 points, early in the first half.

When the Terriers cut the lead to one, forcing SU to call a timeout, Boeheim jarred his team, focusing his attention toward the big three that had the power to grind the Terriers out of contention – a message read loud and clear by Onuaku.

Following the break, the center came out and tore through the opposing defense, scoring the team’s next six points. One feed from Scoop Jardine, an offensive put back and a short jumper later, the Orange had left the Terriers in the distance to open up the first-half lead to 12.

‘When you play a smaller team, you’ve got to dominate the paint,’ Onuaku said. ‘(The guards) tried to get us a couple feeds early, so we could catch it and score. In a game like this when they try and slow it down, you’ve got to run your half-court offense.’

By the time Onuaku’s dazzling dunk-and-swat combination came with a little more than 15 minutes remaining in the second half, the game was well in hand. During the first five minutes, the team nearly doubled its first-half lead thanks in part to a workhorse effort by the fifth-year center.

After the play, the Terriers crowded around Justin Newton – the victim of Onuaku’s crushing block – as he winced in pain under the SU basket, while Onuaku stood at midcourt for a brief second, carrying out the emphatic gesture.

With each move backing down St. Francis’ Herman Wrice on the way to the basket, Onuaku showed that his knees, once considered the reason for his fragility, were getting better.

‘I’m rolling with it,’ Onuaku said. ‘However you want to look at it, I know my number is going to be called, so I just have to roll with it.’

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on January 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm