Boeheim Reaches 700 Wins

Jim Boeheim breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. With the season winding down, he didn’t need anything hanging over his head.

Hakim Warrick scored a career-high 36 points in his final home game and Boeheim got his 700th win when No. 15 Syracuse overwhelmed Providence in the second half for a 91-66 Big East Conference victory Saturday.

“This week has been tough for everybody just to get through,” said Boeheim, the sixth active coach to reach 700 wins and the 18th overall. “When you have to win a couple of games, I think there’s more of a pressure situation than anything, just to get 700 out of the way, not having to keep that going for another week. That was a huge relief for me. It was great to get this all done at once.”

Boeheim, in his 29th year at Syracuse, saluted the Carrier Dome crowd of 32,804 from center court, held up a team jersey with “Boeheim 700” emblazoned on the back, and was presented with a huge banner sporting the autographs of thousands of adoring fans.

“I could have done without that,” Boeheim said. “You have to do that because that’s what people expect. I want the players to get all the credit.”

It was the second straight win for Syracuse, which improved to 24-5 overall and 11-4 in the conference.

Providence (12-16, 2-12), which has lost eight conference games by five points or fewer, suffered its worst loss of the season.

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Active Division I coaches with the most victories:

*--* Coach Yrs Wins Bob Knight, Texas Tech 39 849 Eddie Sutton, Oklahoma State 35 795 Lute Olson, Arizona 32 734 John Chaney, Temple 33 722 Mike Krzyzewski, Duke 30 715 Jim Boeheim, Syracuse 29 700 Jim Calhoun, Connecticut 33 699 Hugh Durham, Jacksonville 37 632 Billy Tubbs, Lamar 30 622 Tom Davis, Drake 30 566

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