• A look at Syracuse


    Buzz Williams and his #22nd ranked Marquette Golden Eagles will host #12 Syracuse tonight in a tilt for all the marbles. Well, most of them anyway. Going into last weekend both teams were tied atop the Big East standings, but Syracuse fell at home to Georgetown 57-46, ending the nation's longest home winning streak at 38 games. Marquette followed that up with a 60-56 loss at Villanova. Tonight's winner will still be on the heels of first place Georgetown while the loser will fall a full two games back. With two weeks to go, that is not a lot of time. Marquette now stands with the second longest home winning streak with 23 straight.

    Marquette's final three home games are games pitting the Golden Eagles against members of the Iscariot Wing of the Big East. They already took care of Pittsburgh, now Syracuse followed by Notre Dame. All three teams are leaving the Big East for the ACC, earning them spots in the Judas Iscariot Wing of the conference.

    Tonight's game won't be easy, Marquette turned the ball over 19 times at Villanova, and face one of the best back courts in the country with Brandon Triche and Michael Carter-Williams. The duo combines for over 27 points per game. Carter-Williams is also leading the nation in assists, averaging 8.0 per game.

    Luke Winn of SI did a complete breakdown of Carter-Williams assists, and I found it interesting that, since 2003, he ranks 5th in assist percentage, while Travis Diener still ranks 2nd. Assist percentage is the percentage of your teammates field goals that are assisted by you. Carter Williams is at 50.5%, while in the 2005 season Travis Diener assisted on 53.3% of his teammates' field goals.

    Another tough issue for the Golden Eagles will be the return of F James Southerland. Since returning from his suspension Feb 10th, Southerland has scored in double digits in the last five games.

    And the hits keep coming - freshman Dujuan Coleman who had been out while recovering from knee surgery, was cleared last week but was held out of the Georgetown game as Jim Boeheim wanted him to have a full week of practice before returning.

    As expected, Syracuse will play a zone defense, all night, and like MU, they will utilize a deep bench.

    Here are the Orangemen by the numbers....

    Player GP MIN PPG RPG APG SPG BPG TPG FG% FT% 3P%
    Brandon Triche 27 33.1 14.7 3.6 3.5 1.4 0.1 2.6 42.5 0.743 0.298
    C.J. Fair 27 33.7 14.2 7.3 0.8 1.0 1.0 1.5 48.3 0.824 0.417
    James Southerland 21 27 13.8 5.0. 1.2 1.4 0.9 1.1 48.4 0.71 0.392
    Michael Carter-Williams 27 34.3 12.5 4.9 8.0 3.0 0.6 3.4 37.9 0.744 0.283
    Rakeem Christmas 27 22.3 5.9 5.1 0.2 0.5 2.1 0.9 55.7 0.629 0
    DaJuan Coleman 20 14 5.0 4.4 0.2 0.6 0.5 1.1 43.5 0.448 0
    Jerami Grant 27 16.7 5.0. 3.1 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.7 47.1 0.542 0.4
    Trevor Cooney 26 12.7 4.1 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.1 0.5 32.2 0.818 0.274
    Baye Keita 27 14.9 3.1 3.6 0.1 0.6 1.1 0.6 63.6 0.484 0
    Albert Nassar 5 0.6 0.6 0.2 0 0.2 0 0 1.000 0 1.000
    Noel Jones 6 1.3 0.3 1.0 0 0 0.2 0 50.0 0 0
    Matt Lyde-Cajuste 10 1.5 0.2 0.4 0 0.1 0.1 0.1 25.0 0 0
    Nolan Hart 10 1.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0 0.6 2.0 0 0
    Griffin Hoffmann 10 1.2 0.1 0.1 0 0.3 0 0.4 0 25.0 0
    Russ DeRemer 10 1.1 0 0.1 0 0 0 0.1 0 0 0
    Totals 27 -- 74 40 15 10 7 13 44.6 68.3 32.2


    Keys to the game:

    There are four keys to this game for Marquette....

    1) 19 turnovers against Villanova turned what could have been a quality road win to a loss. Marquette can not turn the ball over more that 15 times tonight.

    2) Disrupt the passing lanes. The fact that Carter-Williams leads the nation in assists and is over 50% with his assist average suggest that Syracuse's ball movement is good, but usually leads to shots being taken after a Carter-Williams pass. When he has the ball look for the pass, not the shot - when he makes the pass - defend the quick shot.

    3) Rebound, rebound rebound. Marquette has dominated their lass three opponents on the glass, pulling down 13.7 more than their opponents. Even in the loss to Villanova they pulled down 13 more than the Cats. However, Syracuse is one of the best rebounding teams they will face all year. They average 5 rebounds per game more than Marquette, 3 1/2 more on the offensive glass. MU needs to outrebound Syracuse on both ends of the floor, eliminating their second chance points while increasing their own.

    4) Shoot from the outside. Syracuse will play a zone defense all night long. MU needs to hit from beyond the arc. They need to open up the driving lanes, and can't do that without some success from deep.

    Game on!