Rautins, SU serve notice
SYRACUSE — Andy Rautins came to Syracuse five years with a reputation as a pretty good shooter, a mediocre defender and a less-than-stellar athlete who probably wouldn't give the Orange much except on offense.
Yet, in this season of surprise and renewed excitement through the first three weeks, the fifth-year senior has bonded the team together. He is giving coach Jim Boeheim so much more than points as SU continues to make the nation take notice.
Monday night's performance against Central New York neighbor Colgate was typical of Rautins's contributions as 8th-ranked SU romped 92-58. He hit 3 of 4 from 3-point range, finishing with nine points, and also had a season-high eight assists, four steals and just one turnover before 18,457 in the Carrier Dome. All of that in only 21 minutes of action.
"Andy is playing at such a high level every game," said SU junior Wesley Johnson, who scored a game-high 19 points. "He does so many of the little things that go unappreciated. But his teammates certainly know how valuable he is."
Rautins, who tied former SU standout Demetris Nichols for fourth on the all-time 3-point field goal made list (205), said he has taken a lot of pride in his defense the past several years. "I've tried to expand my game to help in a lot of different ways. Hey, I've been around a long time, so I've learned a lot."
SU head coach Jim Boeheim said that when he recruited Rautins out of Jamesville-DeWitt High School he didn't expect what Rautins has produced.
"We thought Andy could become a good college player," he said. "But he's exceeding our expectations. The thing about him this season is that he is playing exclusively guard and he's able to focus on that position. The last few seasons he's played a lot of small forward and that took away from what we want him to do in the backcourt."
Rautins now leads the Big East Conference in steals (28). In addition, he's still shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range and already has 35 assists compared to only eight turnovers.
"I've learned how to play the position correctly and worked hard at becoming a good defensive player," said Rautins, who has at least three steals in all seven games. "And the fact that we're all buying into the team defensive concept has helped me get a lot of those steals."
Rautins hit his first three shots, all 3-pointers, Monday night as the Orange (7-0) raced out to an early 15-5 lead. Johnson also hit two early threes and SU shot 57 percent for the half while holding Colgate (0-6) to 20 percent shooting to take a 47-16 halftime lead.
Rautins's SU backcourt mate, freshman Brandon Triche, grew up watching Rautins at their alma mater. So Triche knows how much Rautins has improved his game.
"I actually played three games on the varsity as an eighth grader with Andy," said Triche, who had nine points and five assists Monday. "He's so much stronger and quicker now than he was then. And he's a lot smarter. He really makes my job a lot easier both on offense and defense."
Another big story Monday was the SU bench. In a game that was out of hand early, Boeheim played his reserves extended minutes and liked what he saw.
"It's nice to give all the bench guys opportunities to show what they can and can't do," Boeheim said. "That way, we have film for them to look at and see what they are doing wrong."
Sophomores Mookie Jones and Kris Joseph and freshman James Southerland all scored 10 points off the bench in a combined 48 minutes. Freshman center DaShonte Riley also logged 16 strong minutes.
"Those guys are important because we'll need them once Big East play begins," Rautins said. "They've been working hard in practice and just need a chance to show what they can do in a game."
SU is now off until a home game with Maine on Saturday night. But the Orange know they still have a lot of work to do.
"We've done a lot of good things, but there is so much more we can accomplish," Johnson said. "We've had a lot of games in a short time, so now we'll have a little more opportunity to practice and work on things. The one thing we've done really well is trust each other on both ends of the court. I don't think that will change."
SU's win marked Boeheim's 1,000th as an Orange player and coach. It was his 806th victory as a coach.
NO. 5 KENTUCKY 94,
UNC-ASHEVILLE 57
DeMarcus Cousins scored a season-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead No. 5 Kentucky to an easy win over UNC-Asheville in Louisville, Ky.
John Wall added 12 points and a school freshman-record 14 assists, while Patrick Patterson had 17 points and nine boards as the Wildcats (7-0) cruised during their annual appearance at Freedom Hall.
Sean Smith led UNC-Asheville (0-6) with 19 points, but the Bulldogs were hardly more than bystanders for most of the night against the bigger, deeper Wildcats.
Kentucky had little trouble getting out on the break, where Wall dazzled with a series of alley-oop passes to his teammates while adding a couple of highlight-reel dunks himself.
During a dizzying 29-6 burst midway through the second half the Wildcats converted five straight dunks — all on alley-oop passes from Wall.
NO. 16 GEORGETOWN 83,
MOUNT ST. MARY'S 62
Greg Monroe scored a season-high 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, Chris Wright added a season-high 18 points and Georgetown remained undefeated with a win over Mount St. Mary's at Washington.
Julian Vaughn had a career-high 14 points and matched his career best with eight rebounds and three blocks for the Hoyas (5-0), who built a 20-point cushion by opening the second half with an 11-2 run.
After the Mountaineers cut it to 55-44 with 9:30 left, Monroe scored seven straight points during a 17-5 Georgetown run to put the game away.
Jean Cajou scored 16 points for the Mountaineers (3-3).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
