BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: St. John's @ Syracuse

February 11, 2007


On Sunday, the Syracuse Orange look to avenge their earlier loss suffered at Madison Square Garden at the hands of St. John's when the Redstorm visit the Carrier Dome. Syracuse looks to re-start their season and build some momentum that has seen them lose four of their last five games to fall to 5-5 in the Big East and right smack dab on the NCAA bubble.

St. John's is also playing for something, the first trip to the Big East Tournament for their current players. Since the game is played on their home turf, Madison Square Garden, the Redstorm have been stung by not making the conference party the last couple seasons. They are on the cusp this year at 5-6 and are trying to fend off several teams behind them, but have a tough finish compared to a few teams chasing them.


In their first meeting, St. John's got off to a quick start, but the Orange recovered and the game was back and forth from then on. However, as they have done a few times of late, Syracuse crumbled down the stretch and Avery Patterson hit the big shots to pull it out for SJU.

Syracuse struggles in the halfcourt as their point guard play is very suspect and their frontline struggles scoring in any kind of half-court offense where they must create. They need to rely on Demetris Nichols and feed their top offensive threat the ball as much as possible and work off of him, but nobody on the floor seems to understand that, and that is where their point guard play falls short.

Syracuse will depend on their zone to defend St. John's, and that is not a bad idea as the Redstorm really struggle shooting the ball, especially away from home. The Orange have the ahtletes to defend Lamont Hamilton, but whichever team can get the other in foul trouble will have the edge. After publicly being testy with the officiating in their loss to UConn on Monday, look for Jim Boeheim to work the officials very hard on Sunday and get the benefit of some calls.

Syracuse should take this one at home.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Syracuse 70 St. John's 60