SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A Hak attack saved defending national champion Syracuse from another loss.
Hakim Warrick scored a career-high 30 Sunday, 11 during a decisive second-half spurt, to help the No.7 Orangemen rally past Rhode Island 69-65 and avoid an 0-2 start.
"This is only our second game," said Warrick, who made 18 of 22 free throws to match the school record set two years ago by Allen Griffin. "Just having a new lineup in there and losing leadership like Kueth Duany and Carmelo Anthony, it's going to be really tough at first."
The Orangemen, who haven't been 0-2 since the 1968-69 team started 0-5, fell behind by 11 in the first half and appeared as uncertain as they did in Wednesday's loss to Charlotte.
To be certain, the settling influence of Duany, who graduated, and Anthony, now in the NBA, was sorely missed again.
"I think we came out a little too shaky," Warrick said. "A couple of people were a little too anxious, really wanting to win bad. We came out kind of hesitant at first, but I think we did a good job of turning it around at the end."
Syracuse trailed 45-41 with 12:39 left after Dustin Hellenga stole the ball from Gerry McNamara and converted a three-point play.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim then kept signaling for Warrick to get the ball in the lane, and he took over the game, sparking a 19-5 run.
"I knew it was coming to me," said Warrick, who also had a team-high nine rebounds. "There was one time I got elbowed in the nose, didn't know where I was, and he was still calling my play."
The Orangemen won despite shooting 39.2 percent and being outrebounded 55-41. Rhode Island scored 44 in the paint but made 1 of 22 3-pointers and shot 32.9 percent from the field.
"We knew we were not going to make a lot of shots from outside," Rams coach Jim Baron said. "So we had to be aggressive going to the glass, and we were able to do that."
Syracuse won despite a subpar performance from McNamara. He scored a career-high 34 and hit eight 3-pointers against Charlotte but shot 1-for-9 from the field Sunday. McNamara missed all six 3-point attempts and finished with seven points. Billy Edelin had 16.
Hellenga led Rhode Island with 16 points, and Terrence Mack had 10. Dawan Robinson, who entered averaging 15.5 points, was 1-of-15 and finished with six points, all in the final 2:52.
"I couldn't find my shot and struggled horribly," said Robinson, who was 0-for-6 on 3-pointers. "We see this as a big loss because we thought we could beat this team."
NO.3 MICH. ST. 89, DePAUL 81: Kelvin Torbert scored 19 and Chris Hill added 15 points and a career-high 11 assists for Michigan State in the championship game of its Spartan Classic.
Torbert, the tournament MVP, was 7-for-11 from the field. Alan Anderson scored his 17 in the second half.
Shannon Brown scored nine of his 13 in the first half and iced the victory with two breakaway dunks in the final minute.
"I said going in we'd have to play two good games to win this tournament," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
"I saw enough good moments to say, "This is where we can be,' and enough bad minutes to say, "We have a lot of work ahead of us."'
DePaul's Delonte Holland had 27 points, Andre Brown had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Quemont Greer added 15 points.
"The story of this basketball game today is that we faced one of not only the best teams in the country but one of the best programs," DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. "They play with energy and confidence, and that makes a really big difference."
NO.20 STANFORD 60, RICE 56: Rob Little and Chris Hernandez scored 17 to lead the visiting Cardinal.
Stanford rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit, outscoring Rice 38-28 in the second half for its third consecutive win.
UVA 79, HIGH POINT 64: Donte Minter scored 13 and Derrick Byars 12 to lead a balanced offense, and the host Cavaliers pulled away after halftime.
Gary Forbes, Elton Brown and Devin Smith scored 10 each for Virginia in its final tuneup before hosting Minnesota in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday.
C-USA
CHARLOTTE 92, N.C.-ASHEVILLE 65: Curtis Withers had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and three other players scored in double figures for the visiting 49ers.
TULANE 77, LOYOLA (N.O.) 57: Quincy Davis had a career-high 26 points and 14 rebounds for the host Green Wave. Davis was 12-of-18 from the field and hit 4 of 5 free throws. He also had eight offensive rebounds and five dunks.
Late Saturday
PURDUE 78, NO.2 DUKE 68: Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski found no fault with his team's effort, but he admitted the offense needs work.
Had Duke beaten the Boilermakers, the Blue Devils likely would have moved to the top of the polls because of Connecticut's loss last week.
But the Blue Devils ran into a Purdue team that was eager for a good showing against a ranked opponent.
"We just haven't executed yet this year on the offensive end like we can, and we have to do, and that puts a lot of pressure on our defense," Krzyzewski said. "Our offense did not help our defense."
Purdue matched the Blue Devils basket for basket inside for most of the first half, then used strong guard play in the second in the title game of the Great Alaska Shootout.
"We played hard. There's no question about it," Krzyzewski said. "We had more offensive rebounds (21) than I think we got all year, so the effort was there."
The Blue Devils struggled early in their first three games. In the semifinals Friday night, they did not pull away from tiny Liberty until the second half.
Against Purdue, Duke's guards shot 11-for-28, including 4-for-14 from 3-point range, and the team shot 32 percent in the second half.
