SALT LAKE CITY — Granted, Syracuse players cushioned their answer with the mandatory ‘Give Butler credit’ discloser each time. But they made it clear that the better team did not win Thursday night.

‘Honestly, no,’ Jackson said. ‘They just had a smart game plan. Give it to their coach. Their coach had a great game plan out there.’

A big part of that game plan was to go right at Jackson and outmuscle Syracuse.

Next to Butler’s antagonizing man defense, this was the most surprising revelation from Syracuse’s 63-59 loss in the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs — a team fueled by quickness, not size — pounded Syracuse inside. Butler’s frontcourt, never to be mistaken for a bodybuilder lineup, bullied the outright Big East champions.

Butler did dull the game’s tempo to a crawl, but that wasn’t the difference.

‘We’re used to teams playing like that,’ point guard Brandon Triche said. ‘It was more of them being tougher than us, pushing us around and knocking us off our spots. That’s what guided them to a win.’

The breaking point came with 2:44 left and Syracuse holding a 54-53 lead. Butler’s Matt Howard pinned Jackson against the hoop, scored and the Bulldogs never trailed again. Howard was a gnat Jackson couldn’t shake off all night.

Failing to utilize his decisive size advantage, Jackson scored only four points in 35 foul-plagued minutes. At times, he was trapped by a horde of collapsing Butler defenders. Other times, he passively faded away from the rim.

For the first time, Arinze Onuaku’s absence was woefully obvious. With Onuaku (quad) still sidelined, Syracuse lost its pick-your-poison tandem in the paint. Usually, one of the two drew an undersized forward and attacked. Someone benefited. Someone forced opponents to respect the Orange’s inside game.

Jackson particularly has shown the rare ability to annex from the flow of a game all season. With a set of slick offensive moves, he has torched lightweights Florida (21 points, 11 rebounds), Providence (28 points, nine rebounds) and Villanova (19 points, eight rebounds).

Butler seemed no different — a team stuck in small ball. But by himself all game, Jackson couldn’t anchor the middle. And overall, Butler’s aggressive play took Syracuse by surprise.

‘They were definitely a physical team,’ guard Scoop Jardine said. ‘I give them credit. They played really, really together on defense.’

Jackson didn’t help his cause by picking up a fourth foul with 8:08 still to play. After the junior was whistled, a fired-up Boeheim held his arms straight up in the air to illustrate exactly what Jackson should have done.

Boeheim didn’t make excuses after the game. He didn’t use Onuaku’s injury as a cop-out.

‘We haven’t had him,’ Boeheim said. ‘There’s nothing I’m going to say about that. We don’t make excuses.’

The methodical, mop-haired Howard pestered Jackson as the game progressed, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds himself. Howard, hiding his lack of girth with a T-shirt underneath his jersey, isn’t the strongest player. But he compensated with rec-ball savvy. Howard successfully forced Jackson to stray away from the hoop where the SU forward wouldn’t overpower him. Jackson, a player that scores his points in bunches, never got going.

And with only freshman DaShonte Riley behind Jackson, Syracuse had no other options. The Orange’s lack of depth was exposed at the worst possible time. When the final horn blared, Howard pumped his fist on his own end as Jackson and shocked Orange players walked past him.

Jackson must now prepare for life without Onuaku. Next season, he’ll have a new running mate down low — possibly incoming freshman Fab Melo.

Either way, his days with Onuaku are over.

‘I’m just mad about this right now,’ Jackson said. ‘It didn’t go our way. We got seniors, and these guys will never play again in college. This is it for them.’

thdunne@syr.edu

 

Published on March 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm