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JANUARY 27-29, 2012

daily orange file photo

Climbing back

After 1st loss last weekend, Syracuse looks to start new winning streak against

Mountaineers

2 j a n ua r y 27 - 2 9 , 2 0 1 2 s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m

W E AT H E R

TODAY TOMORROW SUNDAY

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Sports Editor Mark CooperPresentation Director Ankur PatankarCopy Chief Laurence LeveilleAsst. Sports Editor Ryne GeryAsst. Sports Editor Chris IsemanAsst. Photo Editor Stacie FanelliAsst. Photo Editor Lauren MurphyAsst. Photo Editor Kristen ParkerDesign Editor Beth FritzingerAsst. Copy Editor Stephen BaileyAsst. Copy Editor Andrew Tredinnick

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Debbie Truong MANAGING EDITOR

Dara McBride EDITOR IN CHIEF

General Manager Peter WaackIT Director Mike EscalanteIT Manager Derek OstranderAdvertising Manager Kelsey RowlandAdvertising Representative Joe BarglowskiAdvertising Representative Allie BriskinAdvertising Representative William LeonardAdvertising Representative Bianca Rodriquez Advertising Representative Andrew SteinbachAdvertising Representative Yiwei WuAdvertising Designer Abby LeggeAdvertising Designer Yoli WorthSpecial Projects Rachel MeyerDigital Sales Nichelle BronerBusiness Intern Tim BennettStreet Team Captain Ian BrooksCirculation Manager Harold HeronCirculation Joyce PlacitoCirculation Brooke WilliamsCirculation Tony Jing Zeng

s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m j a n ua r y 27 - 2 9 , 2 0 1 2 3

By Michael CohenSTAFF WRITER

O ne after another, Syracuse is handed the challenge of defending some of the Big East’s best big men. Following a brutal

road trip that saw back-to-back games against Notre Dame’s Jack Cooley and Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates, the return to the Carrier Dome doesn’t provide much relief.

Enter Kevin Jones. “He’s probably having as good a year or bet-

ter than anybody in the league this year,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said in the Big East coaches’ teleconference Thursday.

And on the heels of a 26-point, 14-rebound effort — albeit it in a losing one against St. John’s earlier in the week — Jones leads a young West Virginia (15-6, 5-3 Big East) team into Syracuse for a 1 p.m. date with the No. 3 Orange (21-1, 8-1) on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. But while Cooley destroyed SU almost single-handedly in South Bend, Ind., power forward Rakeem Christ-mas upped his game significantly to play bril-liantly against UC’s Yancy Gates.

Syracuse could be without starting center Fab Melo again Saturday, who remains side-lined with an unresolved academic issue. That means Christmas and fellow low-post player Baye Keita must be strong against arguably the conference’s best big man.

Per Scoop Jardine’s postgame admission, Cooley manhandled every player on the Orange with a superior effort. Jardine said the 6-foot-9, 248-pound Cooley simply wanted it more.

Seventeen points, 10 rebounds and an upset of then-No. 1 Syracuse backed that up.

“More heart,” Jardine said. “We’ve got to play with heart like we did in the last three minutes of Saturday’s game (against Notre Dame), when we were trying to come back and win. We would have won that game by 20. Tonight we played with heart, and we got a big win (against Cincinnati).”

The progression from Cooley to Gates, though, should help prepare the Orange for Jones on Sat-urday. While Cooley is all about scrappy play and tenacity underneath the basket, Gates had a more polished offensive game with an ability to step out and make a 15-foot jump shot.

The Mountaineers’ Jones has perhaps the best all-around offensive repertoire, including

SEE WEST VIRGINIA PAGE 15

ryan maccammon | staff photographerRAKEEM CHRISTMAS had one of his best games against Cincinnati on Monday, grabbing nine rebounds and collecting three blocks in SU’s 60-53 victory. On Saturday, Christmas has the difficult task of matching up against Big East leading scorer Kevin Jones.

to handleOrange faces tough

matchup defending West Virginia’s Jones

Hard

INSIDE PRESENCESyracuse will take on another top big man in the conference in West Virginia’s Kevin Jones on Saturday. After facing Notre Dame forward Jack Cooley and Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates without Fab Melo, the Orange will be challenged inside again by Jones, arguably the best player in the conference. Here’s a look at how Jones stacks up with Cooley and Gates this season:

PLAYER SCHOOL PPG RPGK. Jones West Virginia 20.9 11.6Y. Gates Cincinnati 12.5 9.5J. Cooley Notre Dame 10.9 8.5

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Open 4pm-1am(11am-3am on weekends)

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Immediately after Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim delivered a passionate 13-minute press conference, he made his way to the corner of the locker room. After his team’s much-needed win over West Virginia, Boeheim scampered toward the game’s most valuable players.

Boeheim stood side-by-side with Brandon Triche and Kris Joseph, who combined to score 36 points to will the Orange to a 62-53 victory.

Boeheim wasn’t there to congratulate the players, though. Instead, he critiqued Joseph’s performance. Despite a strong and energetic game from the junior forward, the head coach still felt something was lacking. Something that could take the Orange to the next level.

“The last game Brandon found it, and tonight it continued along that way,” Boeheim said after the game. “Kris is a key offensive guy for us. I don’t think he is playing to his potential yet. I think he is still — I don’t know what it is. I am not sure what it is. He is close. But he needs to play better for us.”

Still, Joseph played well enough to help Triche carry the Orange to a win in the Carrier

Dome as SU avoided losing four consecu-tive home games for the first time since 1962. Triche set the tone early on the offensive end and fin-ished with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Joseph added 16 points. The duo led a balanced scoring effort for Syracuse in a hard-fought confer-ence victory.

After West Vir-ginia’s initial posses-sion to open the game, Triche immediately attacked the Moun-taineers defense. The sophomore guard darted down the court

LAST TIME THEY PLAYEDFeb. 14, 2011

Syracuse 63, West Virginia 52

daily orange file photoBRANDON TRICHE and Kris Joseph combined for 36 points the last time Syracuse and West Virginia faced off, propelling the Orange to a 62-53 victory.

“Being comfortable out there, that got me in a rhythm. My coaches have been telling me to start early, give us a lift.”

Brandon TricheSU GUARD

SEE LAST TIME PAGE 11

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By Ryne GeryASST. SPORTS EDITOR

Q uentin Hillsman brushed it off, seemingly annoyed by the first question following his opening remarks.

After watching Con-necticut light up his Syracuse team — shoot-ing 62.5 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from beyond the arc in the second half — Hills-

man gave a quick nine-word response before clearing his throat and scanning the room as he waited for the next question, making it clear he never con-sidered abandoning or extending his 2-3 zone defense.

“Absolutely not,” Hillsman said. “I thought about play-ing our zone bet-ter.”

But the Syracuse zone was clearly overmatched by the No. 3 Huskies in the second half, repeatedly leaving them wide open en route to a 41-point loss in the Carrier Dome on Wednes-day. The second half, in which Con-necticut executed with machine-like efficiency, exposed a porous Orange defense that needs to improve for SU to turn its season around.

Syracuse (13-8, 2-5 Big East) has a chance to get back on track when it takes on last-place Cincinnati (9-11, 0-7) on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

“They did a very good job of getting the ball reversed and getting 3-pointer looks. And just in the second half, we kind of just fell apart.”

Quentin HillsmanSU HEAD COACH

SEE CINCINNATI PAGE 10

ryan maccammon | staff photographerQUENTIN HILLSMAN and SU hope to rebound from a 95-54 loss to No. 3 Connecticut when they host Cincinnati Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

RecoverySyracuse looks to bounce back from 41-point loss to Connecticut against Bearcats

UP NEXTWho: CincinnatiWhere: Carrier DomeWhen: Saturday, 4 p.m.

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Around the Big EastGames to watch

DEPAUL111-9 (2-6)

ST. JOHN’S9-11 (3-6)

SETON HALL15-5 (4-4)

NOTRE DAME13-8 (5-3)

CINCINNATI15-6 (5-3)

GEORGETOWN16-3 (6-2)

MARQUETTE17-4 (6-2)

RUTGERS11-10 (3-5)

VILLANOVA10-11 (3-6)

PITTSBURGH12-9 (1-7)

WEST VIRGINIA15-6 (5-3)

CONNECTICUT14-5 (4-3)

PROVIDENCE12-9 (1-7)

LOUISVILLE16-5 (4-4)

SOUTH FLORIDA12-9 (5-3)

STANDINGS

12244448991112

12141515

SYRACUSE21-1 (8-1)

courtesy of university of cincinnati department of athleticsSEAN KILPATRICK leads Cincinnati in scoring with 15.6 points per game through the UC’s 21 games this season. He is shooting at a 43.5 percent clip from the field.

SEE NEXT PAGE

ST. JOHN’S (9-11, 3-6) ATNO. 8 DUKE (17-3, 5-1 ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE)

In an out-of-conference matchup between these two teams, St. John’s will be given arguably its biggest test of the season. Coming off a game against West Virginia in which the Red Storm started five freshmen, SJU will have its hands full against a talented, experienced Duke team. The Red Storm has had an up-and-down season, beating quality teams like the Mountaineers by 16 points, but also having several off games, including a 15-point loss to South Florida. The St. John’s schedule is dotted with teams like Arizona, Kentucky and now Duke. Moe Harkless is the unquestioned leader of the Red Storm, averaging 16 points and almost nine rebounds per game, establishing himself as one of the most talented rookies in the Big East. St. John’s has three more players averaging double-digits scoring, but that simply isn’t enough. SJU is second to last in the conference in scoring.

While the Red Storm has had its struggles, the Blue Devils are mostly flying high, as usual. They have just three losses, including two shockers to Temple and Florida State. Still, Duke is one of the nation’s premier teams and is going to be a tough an opponent for the Johnnies this season. Five members of the Blue Devils are averaging double-digit scoring totals, led by freshman Austin Rivers’ 14.2 points per game. Duke’s potent offense will likely be too much for the Red Storm to overcome.

SCHEDULESATURDAY, JAN. 28Villanova vs. Marquette Noon ESPN2Duke vs. St. John’s Noon ESPNSyracuse vs. West Virginia 1 p.m. ESPNUPittsburgh vs. Georgetown 4 p.m. ESPNRutgers vs. Cincinnati 6 p.m. SNY/

ESPN3Seton Hall vs. Louisville 8 p.m. SNY/ ESPN3SUNDAY, JAN. 29Connecticut vs. Notre Dame Noon Big East Network/ESPN3South Florida vs. Providence 2 p.m. Big East Network/ESPN3

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VILLANOVA (10-11, 3-6) AT NO. 17 MARQUETTE (17-4, 6-2)With the exception of one rough stretch in the middle of its season, Marquette has been a solid

team all year. The Golden Eagles dominated their nonconference schedule, winning 10 games in a row, but then had four losses in six games. Since then, MU hasn’t lost. The Golden Eagles have won their last five games and are coming off a 20-point rout of South Florida. During that span, though, perhaps the most impressive victory was a 74-63 win over then-No. 23 Louisville at home. Darius Johnson-Odom is still providing the majority of Marquette’s offense, averaging 18.1 points per game and shooting 39.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Villanova sits toward the bottom of the conference, with its streak of going to the NCAA Tourna-ment for the eighth straight season dangerously close to coming to an end without some quality wins. Junior Maalik Wayns is scoring 18.7 points per game and has the potential to go on an absolute tear. Against Cincinnati, Wayns scored an astounding 39 points. Other than Wayns, Dominic Cheek and Mouphtaou Yarou are averaging 12.2 and 11.5 points, respectively.

NO. 9 GEORGETOWN (16-3, 6-2) AT PITTSBURGH (12-9, 1-7)After struggling mightily in a bear of a Big East schedule, Pittsburgh finally won its first conference

game against Providence on Jan. 25. It was the first — and really only — bright spot for the Panthers in an otherwise disappointing year. Rebuilding after having a solid season last year, Pittsburgh hadn’t been able to catch a break during its conference schedule. The Panthers won 11 of their first 12 games before things went bad, and after their first win, it’ll be tough for them to hit any sort of winning streak with the Hoyas and West Virginia coming up in the next two games.

The Hoyas are having a strong season, with their lone Big East losses coming to West Virginia and Cincinnati. Jason Clark is averaging close to 16 points per game, and Hollis Thompson is scor-ing 14 points per game. Sitting in second place in the conference in scoring defense, Georgetown is holding opponents to fewer than 60 points per game and is also second in scoring margin, winning games by an average of 12.7 points.

CINCINNATI (15-6, 5-3) AT RUTGERS (11-10, 3-5)At times, Rutgers has shown flashes of being great. The Scarlet Knights beat Florida on Dec. 29 in an

85-83 overtime victory and also beat Connecticut 67-60. In other games, though, Rutgers has looked far less than stellar, especially coming off a 69-64 loss to DePaul on Wednesday. Rutgers’ offense hasn’t been nearly as strong as it needs to be to stay competitive in the Big East. The Scarlet Knights sit in 14th in the conference in scoring, and their leading scorer, Eli Carter, is scoring about 13.4 points per game. Rutgers is squarely a .500 team that hasn’t quite been able to find its way, despite some of those impressive wins.

The Bearcats, though, have been a surprise in the Big East, using a strong defense to assert themselves as a serious conference contender. Sean Kilpatrick is leading the team with 15.6 points per game. Cincinnati had strong wins against Georgetown and Connecticut, but it is on a two-game losing streak after losing to West Virginia and Syracuse.

—Complied by Chris Iseman, asst. sports editor, cjiseman@syr.edu

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(21-1)

RAKEEM CHRISTMAS 6-9, 222, FR.

3.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG

JIM BOEHEIM 877-302

36th season

DENIZ KILICLI 6-9, 260, JR.

8.7 PPG, 7.8 RPG

BOB HUGGINS 635-233

27th season

CENTER COACHES

Christmas struggled against Notre Dame, but the freshman did have an impressive game on the boards against Cincin-nati, grabbing nine rebounds to go along with four points. Kilicli is the more consistent scorer of the two and should provide a tough presence in

the low post.

Huggins has a team with limited experience, but has done a good job of keep-

ing the Mountaineers com-petitive in the conference. Boeheim is now two wins away from tying legendary North Carolina head coach

Dean Smith.

“I don’t know how much (Kevin Jones has) substantially gotten better at anything. I think he’s gotten better at everything.”

Bob HugginsWVU HEAD COACH

BEAT WRITER PREDICTIONS

ZACH BROWN

MICHAEL COHEN

MARK COOPER

FREE THROWS

STAT TO KNOW Syracuse and West Virginia are among the deepest teams in the conference. Both teams have at least nine players averaging double-figure minutes per game.

FORTUNE COOKIE

Syracuse 74, West Virginia 65Any more losses will not be coming in the Carrier Dome.

Syracuse 66,West Virginia 54Waiters responds with a retweet-worthy per-formance to lead the Orange to a win.

Syracuse 86, West Virginia 72Even if there’s no Melo.

@LOUISVILLEFEB. 13, 7 P.M.

@RUTGERSFEB. 19, 1 P.M..

Mountain high?

THEY SAID IT

SATURDAY, 1P.M., CARRIER DOME

SCOOP JARDINE 6-2, 190, SR.

8.5 PPG, 5.0 APG

BRANDON TRICHE 6-4, 205, JR.

9.9 PPG, 2.9 APG

KRIS JOSEPH 6-7, 210, SR.

13.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG

C.J. FAIR 6-8, 203, SO.

8.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG

JABARIE HINDS5-11, 175, FR.

8.2 PPG, 3.6 APG

DARRYL BRYANT6-2, 195, SR.

17.4 PPG, 2.7 RPG

KEATON MILES 6-6, 205, FR.

1.3 PPG, 1.8 RPG

KEVIN JONES 6-8, 260, SR.

20.9 PPG, 11.6 RPG

STARTING LINEUPPOINT GUARD SHOOTING GUARD SMALL FORWARD POWER FORWARD

In Jardine’s last four games, the fifth-year senior is aver-aging eight assists and one

turnover per game while also averaging about 9.3 points. Hinds has been impressive as a freshman, but he is still

growing into his game.

In his junior season, Triche continues to be a threat from beyond the arc for Syracuse. Bry-

ant’s coming off a strong performance in West Vir-ginia’s loss to St. John’s. He scored 16 points with

three assists.

Miles hasn’t been much of a force in West Virginia’s

offense thus far in his fresh-man season. He’s averaging

less than two points and rebounds per game. Joseph is another one of Syracuse’s leaders on the floor and is

scoring a team-leading 13.7 points per game.

Jones has been absolute-ly dominant this season

as one of the best players in the Big East. The senior

is coming off a strong 26-point, 14-rebound

performance against St. John’s. Fair will be hard-

pressed to outplay Jones.

1. Kentucky (61)2. Missouri (2)3. Syracuse (2)4. Ohio State5. Kansas6. Baylor7. North Carolina8. Duke9. Georgetown10. Michigan State11. Murray State12. UNLV13. San Diego State14. Florida15. Creighton16. Indiana17. Marquette18. Mississippi State19. Virginia20. Michigan21. Saint Mary’s22. Kansas State23. Florida State24. Connecticut25. Wisconsin

(15-6)

RANKINGS TRACKERData based on AP Top 25 poll

1 2 3 4

5

6

7

8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Pre 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Week 6After No. 1 Kentucky loses to Indi-ana at the buzzer Dec. 10 and No. 2 Ohio State falls to Kansas that same day, Syracuse goes from No. 3 to No. 1 in the rankings.

HALF-COURT SHOTS

CONNECTICUTFEB. 11, 1P.M.

GEORGETOWNFEB. 8, 7 P.M.

@ST. JOHN’SFEB. 4, NOON

1. Kentucky (31)2. Missouri3. Ohio State4. Syracuse5. Kansas6. Duke7. Baylor8. North Carolina9. Murray State10. Georgetown11. Michigan State12. San Diego State13. Florida14. Creighton15. UNLV16. Mississippi State17. Indiana18. Marquette19. Connecticut20. Saint Mary’s21. Virginia22. Michigan23. Harvard24. Kansas State25. Wisconsin

AP TOP 25

USA TODAY/ESPN(First-place votes in parentheses)

rank

week

WEST VIRGINIA AT 3 SYRACUSE(First-place votes in parentheses)

“(Kevin Jones is) probably having as good a year or better than anybody in the league this year.”

Jim Boeheim SU HEAD COACH

Syracuse lost its first game of the sea-son 67-58 on the road to Notre Dame, costing the Orange its spot atop the rankings and sending it down to No. 3 in the poll. Kentucky reclaimed its spot at No. 1.

Syracuse is tops in the Big East and fourth in the country in scoring margin. The Orange is defeating its opponents by an average of 17.6 points per game this season. Conference play has been tougher, as SU is outscoring teams by 12 through nine games.

West Virginia forward Kevin Jones is the only player in the country who ranks in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding. Jones is 10th in scor-ing and fourth in rebounding and is considered a favorite for Big East Player of the Year.

After the discouraging blowout loss to UConn, the Orange had little to smile about, especially when discussing its performance on the defensive end in the second half. But the holes in the zone also appeared late in the first half, foreshadowing Syracuse’s struggles to slow down the Huskies’ 3-point barrage in the final 20 minutes.

Connecticut guard Tiffany Hayes stood alone in the right corner with just under four minutes remaining before halftime. Bria Hartley hit her with a crisp pass, and Hayes let it go as Carmen Tyson-Thomas lunged out desperately to contest the shot. But she was too late and Hayes drilled the 3-pointer to give UConn a seven-point lead — its largest of the game to that point.

Hillsman wasn’t pleased as he watched the play unfold right in front of him, repeating to Tyson-Thomas twice that Hayes was wide open before she retreated down the court on offense.

“They did a very good job of getting the ball reversed and getting 3-pointer looks,” Hillsman said. “And just in the second half, we kind of just fell apart.”

The collapse came as a result of more of the same after the break.

UConn knocked in three shots from the perimeter to expand its seven-point halftime lead to 17 early in the second half, deflating the Orange. The Huskies poured in five more 3s the rest of the way to cruise to an easy victory.

Hayes paced the Huskies with 35 points on a near-perfect shooting performance. The Hus-kies guard drew praise from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, Hillsman and the SU players

for her brilliant play after the game.“Honestly, they were making open shots,”

Hemingway said. “Tiffany went 11-for-15 from the field.

“She went, what,” Hemingway added, paus-ing to look down at the stat sheet, “6-for-8 from the 3. I feel like they had us wide open.”

And as Hemingway said, many of Hayes’ 3s were uncontested as the Orange failed to rotate out against Connecticut’s quick ball movement. The zone lacked the energy and aggression it displayed early in the game, and the Syracuse players seemed to be a play behind the Huskies.

It was clear all the way to the end when UConn reserve Lauren Engeln, who played just

four minutes, hit a 3 in the left corner with just more than a minute remaining to put the finish-ing touch on a 95-54 victory.

Engeln corralled a long rebound, dribbled out beyond the arc and released the shot as Tyson-Thomas stood a few feet in front and watched. The shot broke the silence in the Car-rier Dome as the UConn bench rose to its feet and erupted in cheers.

The brutal loss gave SU plenty to think about after the game. But Hillsman said he didn’t have a message for his team to improve heading into its matchup with Cincinnati. His Orange team simply has to get better.

For Hillsman, the loss wasn’t about making adjustments defensively. It was about a lack of execution. And though Cincinnati is winless in the conference and ranks 12th in 3-point shooting, the Orange knows it must play its zone better on Saturday.

“We prepare the same way for every game,” Tyson-Thomas said. “Every Big East team has the capability to beat any other Big East team.”

rjgery@syr.edu

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CINCINNATIF R O M P A G E 5

FALLING APARTSyracuse has stumbled to a 2-5 start in the Big East, in part due to defensive breakdowns. After holding opponents to 35.3 percent shooting a year ago, 17th in the nation, the Orange defense has fal-tered in conference play this season — its worst performance was on Wednesday in a blowout loss to Connecticut. Here’s a look at the field-goal percentages SU has allowed in seven Big East games thus far: OPPONENT FG% RESULTWest Virginia 41.3 76-72, LNo. 10 Rutgers 34.5 55-44, LPittsburgh 35.8 83-60, WSt. John’s 46.3 70-58, LNo. 18 Georgetown 41.7 69-42, LSeton Hall 40.6 70-66, WNo. 3 Connecticut 51.5 95-54, L

@DOsports

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following a Kevin Jones miss and nailed a 3-pointer to get SU on the board.

In just 21 seconds Triche was already fulfill-ing a role that Boeheim had waited to see all season long. The head coach wanted Triche to come out aggressive from the opening tip, look-ing to score for the Orange.

“Being comfortable out there, that got me in a rhythm,” Triche said. “My coaches have been telling me to start early, give us a lift.”

But the Mountaineers responded. WVU guard Casey Mitchell came off the

bench to provide a scoring punch that coun-tered Triche’s contributions. Mitchell led West Virginia from beyond the arc as the team shot an atypical 7-of-13 from deep. The hot-shooting performance helped the Mountaineers take a

30-26 lead into halftime. Although Mitchell stayed hot in the second

half, collecting 23 points on the game, the rest of the West Virginia squad cooled off. Then Joseph took over.

The Syracuse forward scored nine second-half points to help the Orange recapture the lead. But he failed to contain Mitchell, who had become the Mountaineers’ lone scoring threat, on two separate occasions.

And Boeheim let him hear it.“They were waiting the whole shot clock so

(Mitchell) could find a place,” Boeheim said. “Sometimes he moves around. Kris forgot and missed him in the corner.”

But down the stretch, Triche made big plays to give SU the lead, and after Joseph’s defensive lapses, he clamped down and made the game’s defining play.

Joseph put the stamp on the game with an emphatic dunk that gave the Orange a 61-52 lead with 3:35 remaining. And all doubts that emerged throughout the game and the four-game losing streak were put to rest.

Said Joseph: “(It was) adrenaline. It was a big play at that time.”

—Compiled by Andrew Tredinnick, asst. copy editor, adtredin@syr.edu

LAST TIMEF R O M P A G E 4

PLAYER FG-FGA FT-FTA POINTS REBOUNDSRick Jackson 4-6 2-5 10 9Kris Joseph 5-10 5-8 16 5Baye Keita 0-0 0-0 0 4Scoop Jardine 3-10 2-2 9 5Brandon Triche 7-12 4-4 20 2Dion Waiters 0-3 0-0 0 1C.J. Fair 4-9 0-0 8 5

DAILYORANGE.COM

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On the blockA position-by-position look at the game

POINT GUARDAside from the loss to Notre Dame, a game when everyone on the Orange seemed to have an off day, Scoop Jardine has played like a star through the start of Big East play. The fifth-year senior averages 6.4 assists per contest in Big East play and has thrived in his role as the team’s leader. Brandon Triche and Michael Carter-Williams rotate into the point guard spot when the senior sits, but Syracuse’s offense usually runs through Jardine. West Virginia relies heavily on freshman Jabarie Hinds to play the point. Hinds, who leads the Mountaineers with 3.6 assists per game, plays the third most minutes on the team behind seniors Kevin Jones and Darryl “Truck” Bryant.

Advantage: Syracuse

SHOOTING GUARDEven though Jones typically steals the spotlight, Bry-ant is having a standout senior season for the Moun-taineers. The 6-foot-2 guard is scoring 17.4 points per game, and like Jardine for SU, has taken over a leadership role in his final year at WVU. Sixth man Gary Browne contributes mostly on the defensive end and leads the team with 32 steals on the year. For Syra-cuse, Triche and Dion Waiters have shown the ability to provide key sparks for the Orange in seemingly every game. Waiters is second on the team with 12.5 points per game, and Triche is third at 9.9 per contest.

Advantage: Even

BENCHSU boasts arguably the best bench in the country with a slew of players who provide a variety of different options on the offensive and defensive end. In addi-tion to Waiters and Keita, James Southerland is one of the team’s best 3-point shooters and can use his 6-foot-8 frame to help on the glass. West Virginia’s depth comes from three freshmen in Aaron Brown, Gary Browne and Kevin Noreen, but the Mountaineers don’t get much scoring outside of seniors Jones and Bryant.

Advantage: Syracuse

CENTERIf Melo has to sit out again, the burden falls on freshman Rakeem Christmas and sophomore Baye Keita to hold down the middle of the Syracuse 2-3 zone. Christmas is coming off his best game of the year against Cincin-nati, and the 6-foot-10 Keita’s presence is felt mostly on the defensive end. West Virginia’s Turkish import, Deniz Kilicli, is one of the most unusual players in college bas-ketball. The 6-foot-9 bruiser relies on a soft right-handed hook shot in the post to score his 10.4 points per game.

Advantage: West Virginia

POWER FORWARDJones is the leading contender for Big East Player of the Year. The 6-foot-8 senior leads the conference in scoring (20.9) and rebounding (11.6), and he has been a force to be reckoned with inside all season. SU coun-ters with the very athletic C.J. Fair, who will start his third straight game if Fab Melo doesn’t play. Fair is the Orange’s second leading rebounder behind Melo with 5.2 per contest.

Advantage: West Virginia

SMALL FORWARDKeaton Miles has started every game this year for West Virginia, but his contributions have been mini-mal. The freshman only averages 1.3 points per game and 1.8 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, fellow rookie Aaron Brown is the Mountaineers’ best deep threat, shooting 43.5 percent beyond the arc. Syracuse senior Kris Joseph leads the Orange in scoring and is coming off a 17-point performance on 8-of-11 shoot-ing against Cincinnati.

Advantage: Syracuse

—Compiled by Zach Brown, staff writer, zjbrown@syr.edu

j a n ua r y 27 - 2 9 , 2 0 1 2 1 3s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m

Head to headSTATISTICS

Saturday West Virginia 1 p.m.Feb. 4 at St. John’s noonFeb. 8 Georgetown 7 p.m.Feb. 11 Connecticut 1 p.m.Feb. 13 at Louisville 7 p.m.Feb. 19 at Rutgers 1 p.m.Feb. 22 South Florida 7 p.m.Feb. 25 at Connecticut 9 p.m.March 3 Louisville 4 p.m.

REMAINING SCHEDULESSaturday at Syracuse 1 p.m.Monday Pittsburgh 7 p.m.Feb. 5 at Providence noonFeb. 8 Notre Dame 9 p.m.Feb. 11 Louisville noonFeb. 16 at Pittsburgh 9 p.m.Feb. 22 at Notre Dame 7 p.m.Feb. 24 Marquette 9 p.m.Feb. 28 DePaul 7 p.m.March 3 at South Florida noon

Points per gamePoints allowed per game

Field-goal percentageOpponents’ field-goal percentage

Free-throw percentageRebounds per game

Assists per gameTurnovers per game

Steals per game

78.060.347.9%38.3%69.4%36.216.811.010.3

75.066.546.043.864.039.015.4

13.97.1

SYRACUSE WEST VIRGINIA

s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m1 4 j a n ua r y 27 - 2 9 , 2 0 1 2

*As of wednesday

NO. 5 KANSAS (17-3, 7-0 BIG 12) AT IOWA STATE (14-6, 4-3 BIG 12) Saturday, 2 p.m., ESPN

Undefeated in conference play and in its last 10 games, Kansas is rolling. Eight of those wins came by double digits, and the Jayhawks averaged a 23.6-point margin of victory. Junior forward Thomas Robinson paced KU — as he has all season — with 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in the team’s 64-54 win over Texas A&M on Monday. The Cyclones enter Saturday’s game having lost three of their last five contests, including an 82-73 defeat Jan. 14 at the hands of the Jayhawks. In that first matchup, leading scorer and rebounder Royce White helped ISU pull the near-upset with 18 points and 17 rebounds.KEY TO THE GAME: ROYCE WHITE AND MELVIN EJIM

Half of the Iowa State frontcourt played well in the team’s first matchup with Kansas, but both White and Ejim have to excel Saturday if the Cyclones want to pull off the upset. Ejim was just 3-of-10 from the field in the Jan. 14 loss and struggled to keep KU big men Jeff Withey, Travis Releford and Robinson off the boards. Both were limited to a combined 51 minutes due to foul trouble.

NO. 18 MISSISSIPPI STATE (17-4, 4-2 SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE) AT NO. 14 FLORIDA (15-4, 3-1 SEC)Saturday, 1:30 p.m., ESPN3

After falling to Tennessee in their conference opener, the Gators have reeled off three straight wins and trail only top-ranked Kentucky (6-0) and Vanderbilt (5-1) in the SEC stand-ings. A win Saturday would keep Florida at the top of the pack. The Bulldogs are also riding high, with four wins in their last five games. A 78-77 overtime win over Vanderbilt and a five-point victory over Louisiana State have quickly put the team’s loss to Mississippi on Jan. 18 in the past. Arnett Moultrie leads the team with 17.1 points and 11.2 boards per game. KEY TO THE GAME: KENNY BOYNTON

The junior guard leads UF thus far with 18.3 points per game on 49.6 percent shooting from the field and 44.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc. He has, however, cooled off in conference play, failing to score more than 17 points in any SEC game. He’s also converted just 43.2 percent of his shots from the field and only 34.6 percent of his attempts from deep. To beat the Bulldogs Saturday, the Gators will need Boynton to break out of his slump and carry the scoring load.

NO. 20 MICHIGAN (16-5, 6-2 BIG TEN) AT NO. 4 OHIO STATE (18-3, 6-2 BIG TEN)Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS

If the Buckeyes can beat the Wolverines, they can expect to move up in the polls when they are released Monday after No. 2 Missouri fell to Oklahoma State on Wednesday. After losing a close game at Illinois, OSU has won three straight by an average of 25 points per game. Sophomore forward Jared Sullinger leads the team with 17.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Michigan — which has beaten then-No. 9 Michigan State and then-No. 18 Wisconsin — is surely eyeing another upset. Tim Hardaway Jr. leads the Wolverines in scoring on a team that has six players averaging over seven points and 23 minutes per game.KEY TO THE GAME: JARED SULLINGER

After putting up 20 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks against Penn State on Wednesday, Sullinger’s coming off arguably his most complete performance in two months. In the four games before that, he failed to record double-digit rebounds. If he can establish a post pres-ence offensively, and keep the Michigan big men off the boards on defense, the Buckeyes should be able to avoid the upset.

IOWA (11-9, 3-4 BIG TEN) AT NO. 16 INDIANA (16-4, 4-4 BIG TEN) Sunday, 6 p.m., Big Ten Network

Having lost three of their last four games, the Hoosiers stumble into Sunday’s matchup in need of a victory. Though they did discard Penn State with a 19-point win Sunday, IU fell to Ohio State, Nebraska and Minnesota before that. The Hawkeyes have also dropped three of their last four, including a 95-61 thrashing at the hands of Michigan State on Jan. 10. Matt Gatens leads Iowa with 13.3 points per game on 45.5 percent shooting from the field.KEY TO THE GAME: CODY ZELLER

Zeller leads Indiana with 15.1 points per game and is one of five Hoosiers averaging 10-plus points per contest. The freshman forward has taken an accelerated learning curve, but at 6 feet 11 inches and 230 pounds, he’s got a solid frame. Starting all 20 games for head coach Tom Crean, Zeller has been the most consistent scorer on the team. Of IU’s 20 games, he has posted double-digit points in all but two.

—Compiled by Stephen Bailey, asst. copy editor, sebail01@syr.edu

Around the nationGAMESTOWATCH

s p o r t s @ d a i l y o r a n g e . c o m j a n ua r y 27 - 2 9 , 2 0 1 2 15

Will Leonard, The Daily OrangeAlternate Qualif ier , Dec. 9, 2011

All ie Curtis , Student Counci lQualif ier Winner, Fal l 2011

Dylan Lustig, Student Association2nd Place Qualif ier , Fal l 2011 6 contestants, 3 qual ify for f inals

WING EATING CONTEST

3 h a v e q u a l i f i e d : w i l l y o u b e o n e o f t h e f i n a l 3 ?

2 ND QUALIFYING ROUND FINALSFebruary 2012 TBD Mayfest 2012

Contact adrep10@dailyorange.com, and submit your name, phone number, and why you’ l l have a ton of supporters.

Al l partic ipants receive a $ 5 0 g i f t c a r dWinner receives $ 1 0 0 c a s h , $ 1 0 0 g i f t c a r d and a b i g a s s t r o p h y .

the ability to step out to the 3-point line and knock down a long-range jumper.

He’s shooting just under 30 percent on the season from beyond the arc, and he’s made at least two 3s in eight games this year. Jardine,

SU’s starting point guard, has just five games with two or more 3s.

“I don’t know how much he’s substantially got-ten better at anything. I think he’s gotten better at everything,” West Virginia head coach Bob Hug-gins said in the teleconference Thursday. “I think the main thing is he’s just playing with so much confidence. … I think he’s so much more comfort-able being the leader of a young basketball team.”

In a game against Connecticut earlier this

year, Jones, who leads the Big East in scoring (20.9 points per game) and rebounding (11.6 rebounds per game), made three 3s in the open-ing half to give the Mountaineers a 33-28 lead. He exploited the matchup against UConn cen-ter Andre Drummond, who struggled playing defense so far away from the basket.

Against SU’s 2-3 zone, Jones possesses the ability to shoot over Jardine and Brandon Triche out on top courtesy of his 6-foot-8-inch frame. But as Boeheim pointed out after the rebound win against Cincinnati, the adjust-ments his team made defensively slowed down the Bearcats shooters.

And Joseph said a team can’t consistently knock down deep 3s for a full game.

“They were shooting deep, and those shots aren’t going to go in the whole game,” Joseph said of UC’s start to the game Monday. “They had great rhythm, they were excited, they were pumped up. We knew they weren’t going to keep hitting those types of shots.”

The missed shots by the Cincinnati guards were compounded by the best defensive game of Rakeem Christmas’ career for the Orange. Though Gates finished with a double-double, 16 points and 10 rebounds, Christmas was exponentially tougher and stronger than he was against Cooley.

He drew praise from Boeheim, a slew of his teammates and assistant coach Gerry McNamara.

Without Melo, the strength inside for Syra-cuse instantly became a question mark. The slender Keita proved he was unable to stop a stronger opponent inside, meaning the onus was dumped on Christmas.

The same could be true Saturday against Jones. But if Christmas plays like he did Mon-day night, the Orange should be all right.

Said Triche: “He should have a chip on his shoulder every game.”

mjcohe02@syr.edu

WEST VIRGINIAF R O M P A G E 3

“We’ve got to play with heart like we did in the last three minutes of Saturday’s game (against Notre Dame), when we were trying to come back and win. We would have won that game by 20. Tonight we played with heart, and we got a big win (against Cincinnati).”

Scoop JardineSU GUARD