Syracuse Defeats Villanova in Philadelphia

On Monday night the #17/20 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team overcame the #14/15 Villanova Wildcats, a trio of incompetent officials and both Corey's for a tremendous 69-64 Big East victory.

Rick Jackson, playing his final game in Philadelphia in a Syracuse uniform, led the Cuse with 18 points 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. His high school teammate Scoop Jardine had one of his better shooting performances in recent memory, going 7 of 11 from the field (2 of 3 from 3-point range) to finish with a team high 20 points. Scoop also committed 5 turnovers, however tried to overcome that mark with 6 assists.

In one of the worst officiating displays of the season, the Orangemen were whistled for two lane violations on back to back free throw misses by Isaiah Armwood. As if that wasn't bizarre enough, the seemingly most mild mannered player on the SU basketball team, Baye Moussa Keita, was called for a technical foul after merely looking confused by the official's shockingly overzealous call.

The Orangemen's first half lead went from seven points to just two points with just 9 seconds coming off the game clock.

Another scary moment came in the first half when C.J. Fair rolled his ankle about 6 minutes into the game. Fair was helped off the floor and went directly into the locker room. Fans feared he may have re-injured the same ankle which kept him out of three games in late December. Thankfully, Fair returned to the court less than four minutes later. He went on to play 30 minutes however he did not record a single rebound, the first time that's happened since January 8th in Seton Hall when he was limited to just 8 minutes of action.

In the second half, Scoop Jardine made some big plays down the stretch and a couple of successful trips to the foul line by Dion Waiters and Rick Jackson in the games final seconds sealed the victory for the Orangemen.

The win for Syracuse was their 6th win of the season over a ranked opponent. Only Texas has as many wins over ranked squads as the Cuse. It also guarantees the Orangemen a winning conference record this season as they improve to 10-6 in Big East play, 23-6 overall.

There are just two games remaining on Syracuse's schedule, a trip to Georgetown on Saturday followed by a full week of rest before hosting DePaul in the regular season finale. And then the fun begins. A trip down to New York City to play in the Big East tournament.

The top 8 teams in the Big East get a 1 game bye, and the top 4 teams receive a double-bye. A win against Georgetown on Saturday will go a long way towards helping Syracuse earn that double-bye.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com

Syracuse and Villanova: We Meet Again

It's rematch time. Back on January 22nd Syracuse, then ranked #3 in the nation and sporting an 18-1 record hosted then #7 Villanova who came into the Dome with a 16-2 overall record. Syracuse would suffer their 2nd straight loss that afternoon, falling 83-72 in front of 33,736 fans, including yours truly.

Fast forward to today, Syracuse is currently ranked #17/20 in the nation and Villanova is clinging to a #14/15 spot in the polls (note: the new rankings have yet to be released at the time of this publication). Nova is coming off a nail biting victory at Depaul on Saturday, where we saw the Wildcats and Blue Demons head to overtime before Villanova pulled out a 77-75 victory over the Big East doormat. The Wildcats are currently 21-6 on the year, 9-5 in Big East play.

Syracuse is coming off an equally frustrating win against another one of the weaker Big East opponents. The Orangemen survived going to overtime with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (who entered the Dome with a 4-9 Big East conference record) and emerged victorious 84-80 behind strong games by Kris Joseph, Rick Jackson and C.J. Fair.

The last time these two teams met James Southerland and Dion Waiters received extended minutes, minutes that we have seen go to C.J. Fair recently. And he has not disappointed. Fair scored 17 points and pulled down 8 rebounds against Rutgers on Saturday while playing 37 of a possible 45 minutes. Fair is averaging 12 points and 6.3 rebounds per game over his last four contests.

For the Wildcats, senior guard Corey Stokes has sat out the last three games with a big toe injury. Stokes is averaging 14.6 points per game and shoots 41.5% from behind the 3-point line. With Syracuse looking extremely vulnerable from 3-point range lately, it would be a tremendous loss for Nova to play without Stokes tonight at the Pavilion.

This is a tremendous game for the Big East standings as well as the seeding for the Big East tournament in Madison Square Garden. Syracuse has three games remaining and are currently in a log jam of teams jockeying for seeds 3 and 4 in the Big East. There are four Big East teams with 9 wins (Nova, Louisville, St. Johns and Syracuse) and three with 8 wins (Cincinnati, Connecticut and West Virginia). Throw in Notre Dame at 10-4 and Georgetown at 10-5 and the top tier of the Big East standings are still very much in reach for both Nova and Cuse, who have both struggled lately.

Be sure to check back in with The Cuse Connection following the game for complete recap and analysis from the game. Also be sure to follow us on twitter @CuseConnection for live, in game reaction and commentary throughout the course of the game. Tonight's game is at 7:00PM and will be broadcast live on ESPN.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com

Villanova Unleashes 3-Point Clinic on Syracuse

When Rick Jackson misses an uncontested monster slam in the first five minutes of a game, it can't be a good sign for the Syracuse Orangemen. Jackson was able to recover and score 16 points along with 15 rebounds, however the Cuse could not keep up the pace with which Villanova was knocking down 3-pointers. Nova made 11 of 24 3-point shots (8 in the first half) and knocked off the Syracuse Orangemen 83-72 in the Carrier Dome in front of a crowd of 33,736, the second largest on campus crowd in NCAA history.

While the officiating at times was extremely stressful, the loss should fall squarely on the shoulders of Scoop Jardine and Dion Waiters, two Philadelphia born Syracuse guards. Waiters shot 2 of 12 from the field (1 of 7 from 3) and Scoop Jardine was 1 for 8 from the floor (0-3 from beyond the arc). Jardine was only credited with two turnovers however he was the culprit in many more failed offensive drives. Jardine finished with just 2 points and 3 assists. Waiters had six points 5 assists and 2 steals for the Cuse, slightly better than Jardine's numbers but not enough to get it done.

Apparently Villanova had a very clear recollection from the devastating defeat in the Dome last season, because they came out shooting unconsciously from long distance, particularly Maalik Wayns, who scored 17 first half points on his way to a 21 point game. Both Coreys (Fisher and Stokes) finished with 16 points and Nova shot 22 of 24 (91.7%) from the foul line. Villanova came into the Carrier Dome like they had something to prove, something to avenge, and they left with a very important Big East victory.

Down 10 points with 4 minutes to play, Syracuse was able to narrow the deficit to a mere 4 points with 2:37 on the clock, however Villanova's foul shooting was the difference down the stretch.

Down 8 points with 3:07 left on the clock Rick Jackson got absolutely bear hugged by Maurice Sutton, but the officials must have been gazing at the large number of Syracuse fans in attendance because no foul was called. Seconds after Syracuse cut the lead to 4 points however, Kris Joseph was called for a foul for breathing heavily on a Nova player which sent them to the line for a 1-and-1.

Down six and gaining momentum, Syracuse appeared to force Nova into a 5-second violation on the inbound, however after six or seven seconds elapsed Nova's bench was granted a time out as the officials said Jay Wright was calling for it prior to the 5-second violation. Coming out of the time out Dion Waiters barely brushed against a Nova player and the Wildcats were back on the line for 2 more points. But as I said, we are not going to blame the officials for this loss. Just pointing out the obvious.

The loss brings Syracuse to a still extremely impressive 18-2 record overall, 5-2 in the Big East. Villanova grabs a leg up on the Orangemen with the win, improving to 17-2 record and a 5-1 Big East Record. Syracuse will move on and play Seton Hall on Tuesday at 7PM on the home of the Big East Network: SNY.

Not that this is at all related to the outcome of the game, but I'd be upset with myself if I didn't bring this up. It was unfortunate we all had to see the fan with the "Syracuse is Good" sign in the student section. You're paying a tremendous amount of money for a college education, certainly you have the capacity to come up with a more clever sign. It was neither ironic nor amusing.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com

Orangemen Look to get Back on Track against Villanova

After losing their first game of the season on Big Monday in Pittsburgh, the #3 Syracuse Orangemen look to rebound on Saturday in the Carrier Dome at 12 noon against the #7 Villanova Wildcats. Villanova is also coming off a loss on Monday, their second of the season, when Kemba Walker knocked down a mid-range runner at the buzzer to give #8 UCONN a 2-point victory in Storrs, CT.

Ticket sales at the Carrier Dome have nearly equaled last year's NCAA on campus attendance record, with over 33,000 tickets sold as of Wednesday afternoon. Last season's match up, which Syracuse won 95-77, had 34,616 orange-clad fans. At that time, Syracuse was ranked #4 and Villanova was ranked #7. This year Villanova comes to the Carrier Dome sporting a 16-2 overall record, 4-1 in the Big East.

There are a lot of familiar faces on this year's Wildcat squad, most notably the Coreys. Corey Fisher (6'1" 185 pounds) is leading Villanova in scoring, averaging 16.1 points per game and Corey Stokes (6'5" 195 pounds) is right behind him with 15.8 points per contest. Against UCONN on Monday Fisher scored a season high 28 points and has been shooting 32.1% from behind the 3-point line on the year.

Corey Stokes, who was cited for public urination 2 days before the game in the Carrier Dome last year, has yet to be caught pissing outside this season and has shot 43.8% from beyond the arc on the year. Stokes struggled in the game against UCONN going 0 for 6 from the floor in 38 minutes and made just 4 of 14 shots the game before that against Maryland. Stokes has made just 16 of his last 42 shots over the past five games (38%).

Sophomore Maalik Wayns (6'2" 185 pounds) out of Philadelphia, PA is averaging 13.5 points and 5.3 assists per game for the Wildcats. Wayns posted a season high 22 points against Maryland on January 15th and is averaging 15.3 points over his last 7 games. Also a sophomore Mouphtaou Yarou (6'10" 250 pounds) is leading the Wildcats in rebounding with an average of 7.8 per game along with 8.7 points. Yarou scored a season high 18 points against Louisville on January 12th while shooting 8 of 12 from the field and pulling down 11 rebounds. As a team, the Wildcats average 39.6 rebounds per game, which ranks 29th best in the nation.

The Syracuse Orangemen (18-1, 5-1 Big East) are hoping to have leading scorer Kris Joseph back after he missed Monday's Pittsburgh game with a concussion. Word around campus is that Kris Joseph is feeling much, much better and Orangemen fans everywhere are hoping to see him in uniform and on the court for Saturday's marquee match up.

After showing signs of life against Cincinnati, Fab Melo relapsed into his old self on Monday against Pittsburgh. Melo played just 2 minutes, the first 2 minutes of the game, and missed his only field goal attempt while grabbing zero rebounds. Baye Moussa Keita didn't do any better, playing six minutes while not putting up a single statistic.

Tip off for the #3 Syracuse against #7 Villanova Wildcats will be at 12 o'clock and the game will be televised live on ESPN. For those fans who are unable to make the game, be sure to follow @CuseConnection on twitter to catch all the updates as we tweet live from Marshall St. starting on Friday night and then live from the Carrier Dome for the Big East showdown beginning early Saturday morning.

photo courtesy of syracuse.com

Syracuse v. Villanova: Bring Your A-Game

With ticket sales for Saturday's showdown between #3 Syracuse and #7 Villanova already past 33,000 fans, one has to wonder how we got here without the obligatory "Beat the Record" t-shirts and banners.

In years past when Syracuse set out to break attendance records there were always t-shirts, bumper stickers, towels, internet marketing campaigns and so on. This year Orangemen fans must have been forced to rely on word of mouth. The closest thing to a "Beat the Record" t-shirt is the "Beat Nova II" t-shirt that has been floating around the internets. As if this was only the second meeting in school history.

In fact, this is the 66th time the two schools have met on the hardwood, with Syracuse holding the edge, 35-30. While Syracuse University hasn't instructed us fans to break the on campus attendance record, with three days to go and less than 2,000 tickets to sell, it feels like it's inevitable.

The only thing this game is missing is an official declaration of an "Orange Out." Which leads me to my next point: WEAR ORANGE TO THE GAME. If you are going to this game, or any game for that matter, be sure to wear Orange. You don't need the athletic department to tell you what color to wear do you?

Well, incase you do, take it from me. Leave your blues, your whites, and especially your grays in your closet (or drawer), take out your trusty orange colored clothing and be sure to represent the right way on Saturday.

Another difference from last year's game is that this game is at 12 noon while last year's game tipped off at a pre-game friendly 9:00PM. That's a nine hour difference. Last year's crowd was on its feet and on the sauce. There were "let's go orange" chants from start to finish. Crowd noise was at a level not heard since Carmelo Anthony put the Cuse on his back.

This year, Syracuse fans will have to go the extra mile. It's easy to pre-game your heart out for a 9PM start. True champions are made in the trenches though. Being a fan isn't all fun and games. Sometimes you have to sacrifice. For a Big East matchup like this, it's important that we as fans replicate the atmosphere last year that ran the Wildcats out of the Carrier Dome.

If that means waking up at 7AM so you can get your tailgate started by 8:30AM, then so be it. The Orangemen have had a history of slow starts at noon tip-offs, and Syracuse can not afford to have one Saturday. In all likelihood, there are going to be over 34,000 fans in the Dome, and it better sound like it!

We're not going to the Dome on Saturday to take a nap or eat a relaxing brunch. We are not going to the Carrier Dome and setting attendance records to merely say "we were there." Students are not sleeping outside the Dome for 5 days in freezing cold temperatures to be seen on TV (hopefully).

So when we do arrive to the Carrier Dome Saturday and find our seats just before tip off, remember we are there to cheer as loud as humanly possible. If you are going to the game to enjoy some peace and quiet, you've gone to the wrong place.