great run for sure... other comebacks include @depaul, @rutgers off the top of my head
That Okie St 2003 game was amazing. McNamara, with blood streaming down his face, just went off. If I recall correctly, we were down 17 in that game, and ended up winning 68-56. GMac scored 14, all in the 2nd half. Here is the NYT article, there are some great quotes in it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/24/s...st-head-butt-propels-syracuse-to-victory.html
2003 N.C.A.A. TOURNAMENT: EAST; Head Butt Propels Syracuse To Victory
He was 0 for 6 from the field in the first half and had taken a couple of elbows, a hip and, well, a general beating from Oklahoma State's Victor Williams. His fellow Orangemen had fared no better, falling behind by 17 points.
It was a head butt, however, that got Gerry McNamara and No. 3-seeded Syracuse untracked in their 68-56 victory today at the Fleet Center and pushed the fourth of four Big East teams in the N.C.A.A. tournament into the Round of 16.
The collision occurred six minutes into the second half, after Syracuse had cut the Cowboys' lead to 2 points, 39-37. McNamara, a freshman guard, got tangled once more with Williams, this time near the lane. Their heads crashed inadvertently, but McNamara staggered to the corner, collected a pass from Billy Edelin and launched a 3-point shot.
''I don't think my right eye was working too good, so I used the left eye to shoot -- I had to concentrate a little more,'' McNamara said. ''I knew I had blood dripping down my face, but I had to hit because I had an open look.''
He did, giving Syracuse (26-5) its first lead and earning him an immediate trip to the trainer's room, where a butterfly bandage was attached smack between his eyes. When he returned to a thunderous ovation about 10 minutes later, the Orangemen were up by 47-43 and were on their way to Albany for the East Regional semifinals against No. 10 Auburn, a 68-62 winner today over No. 2 Wake Forest.
''They knocked some sense in him when they hit him in the head,'' his fellow Syracuse freshman Carmelo Anthony said.
But neither McNamara nor No. 6 Oklahoma State (22-10) was finished. With Syracuse ahead by 56-50, McNamara found himself with the ball at the top of the key as the shot clock was about to hit zero. He fired another 3-point shot and once more found the bottom of the net.
''That was the backbreaker,'' Williams said. ''He hit some big shots -- one time I lost him and that was my fault, but other times I was playing good defense.''
Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim knew his team was fortunate to scramble back into the game after spotting Oklahoma State a 27-10 lead with less than seven minutes to play in the first half. When Anthony, who was shooting 0 for 6, picked up his third foul with 3 minutes 55 seconds left in the half, Boeheim sat him on the bench.
''Oklahoma State is one of the toughest teams I've played all year,'' said Anthony, who scored 13 points and shot 5 of 16. ''They hit me; they grabbed my jersey. They wouldn't let me get the ball early; they made me force shots up. They made me play like a freshman.''
Still, it was yet another freshman, Edelin (20 points), who ignited the Orangemen's rally. He and the sophomore Josh Pace keyed a 15-4 run to cut the Cowboys' halftime lead to 31-25.
''They got frustrated a little bit and they took advantage of it,'' Boeheim said of his freshmen. ''But this was a tremendous effort. To come back from 17 down against a very, very good team is difficult to do, especially with young guys. Our young guys have fought hard all year long. I'll give them that credit.''
It was turnovers that undermined the Cowboys, who fumbled 22 of them away and turned easy layups into caroms off the back of the rim as they went for acrobatic and emphatic dunks.
''We did miss some layups,'' Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton said. ''We had numbers in transition, but we threw those opportunities away.''
Groggy or not, McNamara took advantage of his opportunities enough to score all of his 14 points in the second half. When he went to the locker room, Syracuse trainers told him he needed stitches. He opted for the butterfly.
''I just wanted to get back on the court,'' he said.
And because he did, the Orangemen join their Big East brethren in Notre Dame, Connecticut and Pitt among the 16 teams with a chance to claim the championship.
