PHILADELPHIA – Not once has Jim Boeheim told Kristof Ongenaet to stop shooting 3-pointers. But recently, defenses have backed off the 6-foot-8 junior when he gets the ball beyond the arc, anticipating a pass.

That’s because, before Saturday, Ongenaet had missed eight straight 3-pointers since Dec. 18 and made only one for the entire season.

But there was Ongenaet, with the ball in his hands and the shot clock winding down. So he took the wide-open 3.

‘I think there was only five seconds left on the clock,’ Ongenaet said. ‘Right before I asked for the ball, I knew I wanted to shoot it. And yeah, I just took it confidently, and it went in.’

And what a huge shot it was for Syracuse and Ongenaet. After Villanova made two 3-pointers to cut the SU lead to six, Ongenaet’s 3-pointer was a dagger with 7:26 left. For Ongenaet, Saturday was his best game in a Syracuse uniform. He played a career-high 36 minutes, scored 12 points (a career-high), had five rebounds and three steals.

‘He mostly stays out of the way and lets the other guys play, and when he gets in there, he sneaks in behind somebody who’s forgotten about him, which they do, and he finishes,’ Boeheim said.

Ongenaet made his third career start for Syracuse, his third in a row replacing the suspended Scoop Jardine. Jardine made his return to the lineup Saturday, playing three minutes off the bench. Boeheim said after the game that Jardine’s suspension for his connections to a stolen SUID card was lifted.

‘We went through university procedures,’ Boeheim said. ‘Judicial Affairs, we’re not allowed to talk about that beforehand or during. But we went through the process, and it’s been resolved.’

In the locker room after the game, a despondent Jardine sat with assistant coach Mike Hopkins 10 feet away from a beaming Ongenaet. Jardine, who played 1:29 in the first half and committed a foul, declined to comment to the media.

‘Scoop hasn’t been able to practice with us all week, so I didn’t want to use him that much at all, if any,’ Boeheim said. ‘He just needs a few days of practice to catch back up.’

Meanwhile, Ongenaet has filled in admirably for Jardine.

The junior college transfer, who Boeheim called a 12th grader in terms of experience after the DePaul game, tallied 11 of his 12 points in the second half. His self-admitted bread and butter move is the reverse layup, a play he used only once.

‘He fits into a spot,’ Boeheim said. ‘He’s a good example for a lot of young guys. He doesn’t try to do too much. Unfortunately, it’s not a lesson learned by too many young players.’

Get on the line

For the third straight game, Syracuse shot above its average at the free-throw line. That was important, considering the Orange attempted 39 free throws, 21 more than Villanova did.

In fact, Paul Harris shot two fewer free throws than the entire Villanova team. Harris made 12 of his 16, and the Orange as whole made 28 of 39 (71.8 percent).

‘Coach has been giving us a lot of time in practice to shoot free throws,’ Harris laughed. ‘So I think we should obviously shoot better.’

The entire Villanova roster spent much of the game in foul trouble. Starters Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher fouled out. Reggie Redding, Dante Cunningham and Casiem Drummond each had four fouls.

Thomas injured

Maybe the Syracuse players should stay in a protective bubble during the week.

Junior walk-on Justin Thomas did not dress for Saturday’s game because of a shoulder injury he sustained after slipping on ice on campus.

‘I’m banged up all over,’ he said.

Thomas had played four minutes in the last two games, giving SU’s guards a temporary breather. He has appeared in four Big East games.

This and that

The Wachovia Center was a busy building this weekend. On Friday, it hosted Wing Bowl XVI, a chicken wing-eating contest in the morning and the Orlando Magic-Philadelphia Sixers NBA game at night. After the Syracuse-Villanova game Saturday afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Anaheim Ducks in an NHL contest. Oh, by the way, the winner of Wing Bowl, Joey Chestnut, set a new record by eating 241 wings in 30 minutes. … Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski was in attendance to scout the game. Six other NBA teams had scouts watching, too. … Both coaching staffs wore sneakers during the game to support Coaches vs. Cancer.

Published on February 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm