Syracuse Barely Holds Off Depaul While Georgetown Dominates Duke

     It was a very stressful day for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and the rest of the Syracuse faithful, as the No.4 ranked Syracuse Orange (21-1) barely improved to 8-1 in the Big East by holding off the last place DePaul Blue Demons (8-13) 59 to 57 in Chicago, Illinois, Saturday afternoon.  The Blue Demons came out of the gates on fire, as they were shooting over 70% early on in the contest.  Clutch three point shooting and a barrage of dribble drives completely exposed the holes in the Orange two-three zone defense that had up to this point in the year completely confused the rest of the Syracuse opponents. 
        DePaul was led by Guard Will Walker who shot 5 of 12 from downtown and ended up with 21 points on the day.  Walker's sidekick, DePaul forward Mike Stovall also added 9 points to help bust out the DePaul lead to 18 points over the stunned Syracuse Orange that obviously had underestimated their opponent.  However, The Cuse shouldn't have overlooked the Blue Demons, even though their record is below .500, earlier this month they had beaten a tough Marquette Golden Eagles squad that just beat UConn and has played almost everyone tough so far this year.  Nonetheless, the Blue Demons 18 point lead in the first half was brought down to only 4 points at half time, as Kris Joseph came off the bench and once again played like a star, as he kept the crowd out of it for a while, as he dunked over Blue Demon defenders and had a number of layups that DePaul had no answer for on defense.  Iowa State transfer sensation Wesley Johnson also kept the Orange in it, as he put up 16 points on 7 of 15 from the field, and also dished off 7 assists to lead everyone. 

        Even though the SU scoring attack was somewhat balanced, the Orange only ended up with 59 points on the day, a drastic difference from their over 80 point average up until this game.  However, the most important factor in this game was that DePaul couldn't put away the struggling Orange, as SU scratched and clawed to stay within 9 points of the Blue Demons with under 7 minutes left to play.  At that point in the game, the Cuse went on their final run.  Trailing 52-43 with under seven minutes left, Joseph hit a 3-pointer to start the go-ahead run.  Andy Rautins then connected from the outside after DePaul's Michael Bizoukas threw the ball away and then a surprising shot in transition came, as Scoop Jardine buried another 3-pointer, and Johnson tied it at 54 with a one-handed fastbreak dunk over Stovall to completely silence the Chicago crowd.  Jardine then gave the Orange their first lead of the day with a layup that made it 56-54 with 3:37 left, and Joseph converted a layup and hit a free throw to make it 59-54.  The Cuse then played tough defense and continued to pressure the ball in order to squeak out a victory on the road, as Will Walker missed a contested three pointer at the buzzer that would have inevitably caused the stands to be cleared out onto the court.  Nonetheless, it wasn't meant to be, as DePaul hung their heads after a tough game they certainly should have won.

      In a much different manner than Syracuse had, the No.7 Georgetown Hoyas (16-4) used homecourt advantage and even United States President Barack Obama's support in order to completely dominate and embarrass the No.8 Duke Blue Devils that were never really in striking distance of the Hoyas.  The Hoyas won 89 to 77, as the size, strength, and length of the Hoyas was simply too much for the Blue Devils to handle.  This was evident on the offensive end, as the Dukies shot an unimpressive 37% from the field and only 31% from beyond the arc.  However, President Obama must have been overjoyed by the Georgetown effort, as the Hoyas shot an insane 71% from the floor and 46% from downtown to totally control the game and kept all the momentum throughout the entire showing. 

Greg Monroe, Chris Wright, and Austin Freemen were a three headed beast for Georgetown, as they each put up over 20 points and played monster minutes, as between the three players, they played all but 2 minutes on the game.  The lack of depth from the Hoyas played no part in influencing the Hoyas effectiveness, as Duke simply had no answer for Georgetown's Big East style of play.  Nevertheless, a surprising stat was the fact that Duke had 12 offensive rebounds to Georgtown's 1, but it made no difference, as Georgetown shot lights out and really didn't need the offensive rebounds anyway.  Duke also didn't do much with their extra opportunities, as the Duke trio of Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, and Jon Scheyer each put up 17 or more points, yet their field goal percentage was disappointing and not nearly enough to keep the Blue Devils in the game.  The Hoyas tough loss to the Syracuse Orange last week definitely played a role in this game, as the Hoyas came out with a sense of urgency and wanted to put a huge non-conference W on their tournament resume at home.  It's clear that the Big East has put itself at the top of the Power Conference rankings in Men's college basketball, as wins such as this one against highly touted opponents like Duke shows that the depth of the Big East is plentiful and getting stronger year after year.    

 It was a big thumbs up from President Obama and Vice President Biden to the Hoyas, as they proved they have what it takes to remain a top 10 team in the National Rankings.

 Big East Standings

      *Conference Record / Overall Record

1. 3 Villanova 8-0 / 19-1
2. 4 Syracuse 8-1 / 21-1
3. 9 West Virginia 6-2 / 17-3 
4. 17 Pittsburgh 6-2 / 16-4
5. 7 Georgetown 6-3 / 16-4
6. Cincinnati 5-4 / 14-7
7. Louisville 4-4 / 13-8  
8. Notre Dame 4-5 / 15-7
9. Marquette 4-5 / 13-8  
10. Providence 4-5 / 12-9
11. South Florida 3-5 / 13-7
12. Seton Hall 3-5 / 12-7  
13. 19 Connecticut 3-5 / 13-8
14. St. John's 2-6 / 12-8
15. Rutgers 1-8 / 10-11 
16. DePaul 1-8 / 8-13