Cuse Blow up with Fab Melo / Week 13 Huge Implications!!

The Orange Destroy the Hoyas at Home

   The now No.4 ranked Syracuse Orange improved to 7-1 in the Big East and 20-1 overall, as they picked up another solid victory by beating their arch rival No.7 Georgetown Hoyas(15-4) 73 to 56.  This was the tale of two games, as the Hoyas silenced the crowd immediately as they opened the game with a 14 to 0 lead over the hometown Orange.  The 26,508 in the seats must have been extremely surprised to see Georgetown open the game shooting 5 of 6 from the field, as Georgetown Guard Austin Freemen was putting on a show, as he drained 3 shots from beyond the arc in the first 3 minutes of play.  However, this game was just getting started, as The Orange then began to play and were led by their bench in order to fight their way back into the game.  Once again, The Cuse bench was led by Kris Joseph and Scooooop Jardine, as both players shot a combined 9 of 11 from the floor for the game, and put up 24 points.  Joseph and Jardine have continued to impress all year, however, Joseph has really shown how he's becoming a Big East threat in every game.  Joseph's nose for the bucket, strong ball handling, and driving ability is what helped SU cut into the 14 point early Hoyas lead.  Jardine went 4 of 4 from the field, most of which was on fast breaks, as he pushed the ball down the floor and put pressure on the slower Hoyas defense to get back on D and make plays.  The momentum rather quickly began to turn in the Orange's favor, as the fans got into the game and the Orange players were feeding off of the emotion built from the comeback.

          So what allowed for such a turnaround after the first 3 minutes of the game....DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE!  Fifth year Senior Guard and leader Andy Rautins was huge in this game for The Cuse, as he played incredible defense and even had 6 steals to help create fast break opportunities for SU.  Defense has been a staple for The Orange all year and has led them to where they are in the Big East and National standings.  How's this for some defense, Wesley Johnson had 4 blocks and 3 steals, Kris Joseph had a block and 3 steals, Rautins had 6 steals, and Rick Jackson had 3 blocks and even gobbled up a steal.  Another huge factor was the fact that SU completely took Georgetown Sophomore Forward Greg Monroe out of the game, as foul trouble wasn't an issue for the rest of the Hoyas, but Monroe continued to pick up the ticky tack fouls that always go unnoticed.  However, with much of the game left in the second half, Monroe fouled out with an unnecessary screen foul at the top of the arc on Andy Rautins.  It was a nice acting job by Rautins, but still a foul.  Rautins came up with big plays all game, and needed to, as they showed his Dad Leo Rautins in the stands almost as much as they showed Andy.  After not recording a point against Marquette, Rautins scored 15 against the Hoyas and shot 9 of 10 from the free throw line.  This was an incredibly balanced scoring attack from The Cuse tonight, and was no coincidence that SU pulled out a W because of it.  Georgetown simply had no bench and no spark after the first 3 minutes of play.  Georgetown's lack of balance and no clear leader never allowed them to truly scare The Orange, as once the tide started to turn, the Hoyas simply couldn't keep up.

Wesley Johnson Leads Cuse Over Fighting Irish

   The No.5 Syracuse Orange improved to 18-1 on the year and 5-1 in Big East play as they beat a pesky Notre Dame Fighting Irish(14-5) team 84 to 71 in South Bend, Indiana.  Syracuse completed a very impressive three game Big East road trip, as they beat the likes of Rutgers, West Virginia, and now Notre Dame.  Syracuse was tested in each of the games, although not as much in the Rutgers showing, and needed to overcome the offensive runs and turnover woes that had really hurt their road play in previous years.  However, against Notre Dame tonight, Syracuse shot lights out and showed no signs of letting off the pedal, as Andy Rautins hit 4 three's in the first 10 minutes of the game....u kidding me?  Rautins ended up with 21 points on 5 of 9 shooting from deep, but also turned the ball over a bit more than usual, as he turned it over 5 times during the game.   
      This game was much closer than the end score would indicate, as Notre Dame Forward Luke Harangody beasted his way to his usual huge day against the Orange with 31 points on 13 of 26 from the field.  Harangody physically stuck with the Orange big men, but didn't have the help from the other Fighting Irish big men to keep the Orange off the offensive boards.  The Syracuse height and length on the defensive end completely disrupted the normally solid Notre Dame shooting attack, as the Fighting Irish shot a mere 38% from the field and just 26% from downtown as a team.  However, Forward Tim Abromaitis did put up 26 points and was shooting darts from 3, as he shot 5 of 11 from long range.  Nonetheless, Abromaitis was the Batman with no Robin tonight, as nobody else on the Irish was shooting well from 3 tonight.

       What more can you say about Wesley Johnson?  He's a Junior transfer from Iowa State that now leads the Orange in scoring, is the team emotional leader, and by the way, is a lock for being first team all Big East.  He had the flu the night before the SU v. West Virginia game Saturday, and now lead the Orange in to South Bend to score 22 points and didn't come out of the game at all.  Johnson has somewhat  overshadowed the beloved Jonny Flynn, as he's convinced the Orange faithful that this team has what it takes to make a deep run in March.  You have to love his attitude on the floor, and like Flynn, really looks likes he's having fun out there.  It's definitely feeding over to the rest of the guys, as Kris Joseph, Arinze Onuaku, Andy Rautins, and Scoop Jardine are also playing very well.  Greatly looking forward to the matchup Saturday at the Dome against a solid Marquette team.