With a 6-foot-8, 290-pound physique, Davante Gardner resembles a bulky lineman more than he looks like the Marquette basketball player he is.

But on Feb. 25, Syracuse would’ve been better off if Gardner had the build of a natural basketball player.

“He doesn’t look like a good player,” said Marquette head coach Buzz Williams, who described Gardner as “obese,” after the game. “But he’s pretty good.”

Fresh off a disappointing home loss to Georgetown two days prior, the then-No. 12 Orange couldn’t contain Gardner on the interior as he led the then-No. 22 Golden Eagles to a comeback 74-71 victory in Milwaukee. Off the bench, the junior finished with a career-high 26 points while corralling eight rebounds, outmuscling Syracuse’s big men in the paint.

Marquette improved to 20-7 (11-4 Big East) and moved into second place in the conference, half a game behind Georgetown. Syracuse dropped to 22-6 (10-5 Big East) and into a fourth-place tie with Notre Dame.

SU’s Baye Moussa Keita and Rakeem Christmas – neither of whom carries more than a 245-pound frame – were no match for Gardner. In his 18-point second half, Gardner grabbed three offensive rebounds, which led to six second-chance points for Marquette.

Fouling him made it even worse as Gardner converted on 12-of-13 attempts from the free-throw line. He would finish the season at 84.4 percent from the charity stripe, third-best in the Big East.

“He just creates space, he doesn’t jump too much,” Syracuse guard Brandon Triche said after the game. “He obviously knows how to get fouled, and he’s shooting like 90 percent from the free-throw line.”

The Golden Eagles outrebounded the Orange by six boards, handing Syracuse its second losing streak of the season.

The Orange’s lone bright spots were its field-goal percentage – 47.5 percent, compared to its 34-percent clip in the loss to Georgetown – and C.J. Fair. The forward continued to be SU’s rock, scoring in double-digit figures for the 18th straight game.

But Syracuse’s recurring issues at the time were prominent against Marquette. After shooting 20 percent as a team from 3-point range against the Hoyas, usual sharpshooter James Southerland shot 4-of-11 from deep. Triche failed to crack the 10-point plateau before fouling out, disappearing against another Big East opponent. He and point guard Michael Carter-Williams combined to turn the ball over seven times against the Golden Eagles.

And similar to previous games, Fair was again left out of the offense in crunch time.

“I’m a good player, so I want the ball a lot,” Fair said after the game. “But it’s tough because they were pressing and then they were running zone. It’s hard, kind of, to get the ball inside.”

But in a game where the Orange relinquished an 11-point lead, Syracuse’s most noticeable deficiency ultimately was its lack of a big body in the middle to clash with Gardner.

The football player lookalike bulldozed Marquette’s way to a home upset and closer to the top of the conference standings.

“We lost the game because we didn’t rebound the ball in the second half,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said after the game. “And when they got it inside, we really couldn’t stop Gardner.”

Published on March 29, 2013 at 4:41 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb