BOSTON – Jared Berggren turned to the referee, his eyes wide open and both thumbs pointing skyward to indicate a jump ball. Dion Waiters had just sliced down the lane when Berggren, Wisconsin’s starting center, got his hand in to prevent a layup attempt.

But instead of a jump ball, Berggren was hit with his second personal foul – a reach in – just 7:57 into the game.

‘I reached in on a drive where I probably shouldn’t have, when I already had one foul, and the call went against me,’ Berggren said. ‘ … It was a poor decision on my part, and I guess it ended up hurting the team.’

Berggren left the floor with Wisconsin leading by six, having already scored 10 points. Badgers head coach Bo Ryan held him out the remainder of the first half, a span in which Syracuse went on a 24-8 run to take a six-point lead at the break.

Without him in the game, multiple SU players said Wisconsin’s offense went stagnant. It all ended with a 64-63 Syracuse win to advance to the Elite Eight, though Berggren scored 17 points in only 25 minutes of play.

Early on, the talented Badgers big man scored at will against the Orange. He showed his prowess around the basket by finishing off a high-low play with a beautiful reverse layup to avoid Syracuse forward Rakeem Christmas. Then he stepped out beyond the arc to hit a pair of 3-pointers.

He opened the game 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.

‘We saw on the scouting report that he was a shooter, but we didn’t believe he was that great of a shooter,’ Orange center Baye Keita said.

But without him, backup Frank Kaminsky was forced into duty and simply couldn’t match the production. In 10 minutes of action, Kaminsky didn’t score or grab a single rebound, and picked up a personal foul.

Even Berggren acknowledged the downgrade.

‘It changed the pace a little bit when we had to bring Frank (Kaminsky) in there for extended minutes,’ Berggren said. ‘He’s done a great job all year, but I think it puts us in a tough situation when I’m not on the floor for that amount of time.’

So as Syracuse went on an 11-0 run to surge in front, Berggren could only fester on the Wisconsin bench as the lead he helped build almost singlehandedly was replaced by a deficit.

‘Berggren did a great job stepping out,’ SU forward James Southerland said.’He killed us from the beginning with those two 3s. I think he really kept them in the game.

‘I noticed a difference when he went out.’

Triche helps pace offense with steady scoring

Brandon Triche stood at the free throw line, pointing behind him at Scoop Jardine. The senior pointed back at the junior. Syracuse’s first possession worked to perfection.

Jardine passed to Triche, who drove from the top of the key into the paint, laying the ball up over Berggren, who was called for a foul on the play. The free throw did not go, but it was still the start Syracuse and Triche wanted.

‘Brandon Triche was spectacular today,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.

Triche nailed his first four shots and was the Orange’s co-leader at halftime with nine points in Syracuse’s 64-63 win in the Sweet 16 over Wisconsin at the TD Garden on Thursday. The starting guard only played 19 minutes, but played incredibly efficient, scoring 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. On a night when Syracuse’s guard play penetrated and conquered Wisconsin’s stout defense, Triche provided the Orange’s first wave of offense.

He scored seven of Syracuse’s first 13 points, displaying an aggression and will to score that has not been consistent from him down the stretch. This was only Triche’s second double-digit scoring game in his last 13.

Still, after the hot start, Triche did not see the floor much. In the second half, he was subbed out with 13:06 remaining and didn’t return until there were 32 seconds left.

Boeheim said after the same he probably should have kept Triche in the game longer, but had difficulty taking out Jardine or Dion Waiters, as they were having good games as well.

‘We have three really good guards and it’s hard sometimes to take one of them out,’ Boeheim said. ‘But he was really good tonight. He was probably the best of the guards when you look at the stat sheet.’

Triche has started every game for Syracuse over the last three seasons. So he relished the fact that the Elite Eight is farther than he and the Orange have advanced in the last two NCAA Tournaments.

And the stakes of Saturday’s Elite Eight game with Ohio State make it all the more enticing.

‘One more game, you get to go to New Orleans,’ Triche said. ‘That’s enough motivation right there.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on March 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm