Syracuse Rolls Morgan State 97-55

Behind 28 strong minutes from Rick Jackson and a tremendous shooting performance off the bench for James Southerland, Syracuse thumped the Morgan State Bears 97-55 in the Carrier Dome Monday night in front of 16,031 fans.

Rick Jackson and James Southerland each scored a game high 18 points to help push the #5 Syracuse Orangemen to a perfect 12-0 record. Jackson was just 1 rebound away from a double-double (9) and dished 4 assists grabbed 1 steal and swatted 2 blocks with zero turnovers on the night.

James Southerland played 21 minutes and scored a career high filling in for injured C.J. Fair, who is out with an ankle sprain. Southerland was 7 of 10 from the field (4 of 6 from 3-point range) and chipped in 5 rebounds along with 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks and zero turnovers.

After playing just 5 minutes against Iona Saturday night, Fab Melo saw 19 minutes of action, the most since November 30th when Melo played 22 minutes against Cornell. Fab scored a career high 9 points on 3 of 4 shooting from the floor. Additionally, Fab Melo made 3 of 4 shots from the charity stripe and picked up 2 rebounds, both on the offensive glass. Melo also gave out 2 assists, had 2 steals, made 4 blocks and turned the ball over twice. It was a step in the right direction for Melo, who has been nursing a calf muscle tear for the past few weeks.

Freshman Baye Moussa Keita played 14 strong minutes off the bench for the Orangemen. He scored a season high 8 points on 3 of 5 shooting, including 2 of 3 from the foul line. Keita grabbed 5 rebounds had 1 assist with 3 steals and 2 blocks on the night. It was a great bounce-back performance for Keita who struggled to make as big an impact the previous two games.

All of Syracuse's walk-on's saw minutes, but no one filled up the stat sheet like Brandon Reese. In 5 minutes on the floor, Reese (out of Davie, Florida) shot 2 of 3 from the field to finish with 4 points, just 1 point less than he scored all of last season. Reese also had 2 rebounds and 1 steal to cap off a good night for the Orangemen.

Syracuse's defense held the Bears to just 37.7% shooting from the field and created 17 turnovers. The Orangemen also had 11 blocks. Freshman Dion Waiters had a season high 8 assists and added 5 points for the Orangemen.

Syracuse's final non-conference game comes tomorrow night, Wednesday, in the Carrier Dome against the Drexel Dragons (8-1) at 7PM. The game will be broadcast on ESPN's flagship station, ESPN3.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com

The Awakening: James Southerland Returns to the Carrier Dome

James Southerland endured an unbelievably bad shooting streak early this season. He went a combined 5 of 23 (21.7%) from the field in the first five games. During that same time period Southerland minutes began to dwindle. After averaging about 13 minutes per game the first 4 games of the season, Southerland would play only 13 total minutes the next five games. He would not get off the bench for three of them.

With the final four games of Syracuse's non-conference schedule approaching, many SU fans looked at this as James Southerland's opportunity to earn his way back into Jim Boeheim's rotation. After a decent performance against Colgate (which saw the entire Syracuse squad put in quality minutes in a 100-43 laugher), James Southerland played sparingly against Iona.

Then C.J. Fair injured his ankle in the first half of the Iona game, and opportunity knocked for James Southerland. Everyone was looking at the 6'8" sophomore from Bayside, NY for a response.

In 21 minutes off the bench last night against Morgan State (4-4) a mid-major program that has been to the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons, James Southerland gave us his response.

Southerland exploded for 7 of 10 shooting from the floor (70%) and shot a very impressive 4 of 6 from 3-point range (67%). Southerland added 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocks to finish with a career high 18 points.

Jim Boeheim spoke on Southerland's opportunistic performance after the game. "He's getting good looks. And he's shooting the ball with a lot of confidence." When asked about Southerland's defense Boeheim continued, "He played well. This was a good game for him."

With C.J. Fair not expected to play against Drexel on Wednesday, James Southerland can expect another great chance to show the coaching staff he is a player that can be trusted in conference play. Not just for mop-up minutes, but critical junctures of the game as well.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com

Syracuse and Morgan State Scheduled for Tonight at 7PM

Coming off the 83-77 victory over Iona on Saturday night, Syracuse (11-0) will host the Morgan State Bears (4-4) for their second game in three nights in the Carrier Dome. Morgan State comes to Syracuse out of the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference, where they are 1-0 in conference play. Back on November 18th the Bears lost on the road to Big East Conference member Providence 77-55.

There has been some recent success on the hardwood at Morgan State College, which is located in Baltimore, Maryland. The past two seasons the Bears won the MEAC regular season and tournament championships, earning them an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. They would go on to lose to the Oklahoma Sooners in 2009 and the West Virginia Mountaineers in 2010 both in the 1st round, playing in each tournament as the #15 seed.

Morgan State College is also known for having the 11th worst graduation rate among colleges in the country. They boast a very unimpressive 32% graduation rate and nearly 15% of the school's undergrad's transfer to other colleges.

The leading scorer for Morgan State is Dewayne Jackson (6'8" 210 pounds) a sophomore out of Bowie, MD. Jackson averages 15.4 points per game along with 4.6 rebounds and shoots 39.5% from the field. After shooting 41.9% from 3-point range last season, he is off to just 22.2% shooting from beyond the arc this season. Kevin Thompson (6'9" 240 pounds) is a junior out of Baltimore, MD who is averaging 14 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Thompson scored 25 points against La Salle back on November 20th, and finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds against Providence on November 18th. He has 5 double-doubles in 8 games this season.

Morgan State isn't a very impressive shooting team, their 40.9% from the floor ranks 272nd in the country and they shoot a measly 29.5% from 3-point range as a team. However, they are an adequate rebounding team, averaging 38.3 boards per contest.

Syracuse appears to be without freshman forward C.J. Fair, who was held out of practice yesterday after spraining his ankle in the first half of the game Saturday night against Iona. Jim Boeheim did not offer encouraging words for Fair's availability tonight, which means that James Southerland will probably see a few increased minutes off the bench. C.J. Fair has played in every game this season, averaging 5.3 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13.8 minutes of action per game.

Brandon Triche has been on a terrific offensive run the past two games, and will look to continue that hot play tonight. In the last two games Triche is averaging 14 points and has shot 66.7% from the floor overall. He's 4 of 8 (50%) from 3-pt range in that same time period and had 7 assists against Iona Saturday night, which was a season high.

No word yet on Fab Melo's availability, however he did participate in workouts yesterday and said after practice that he was feeling good. The game is scheduled for 7:00PM and will be broadcast live on SNY, the Big East Network.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com