2011 NCAA Tournament Third Round – East Region
#3 Syracuse Orange vs. #11 Marquette Golden Eagles, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Sunday, March 20, 2011, 7:45 pm Eastern, TV: truTV
Opening Line: Syracuse -5
Current Line: Syracuse -4.5
Opening Total: 140
Current Total: 140
Money Line: Syracuse -200 / Marquette +170
The last time the third-seeded Syracuse Orange (27-7) met the 11th-seeded Marquette Golden Eagles (21-14), they were looking to avoid their longest losing streak since 2006. The Golden Eagles won that game between the two Big East Conference teams 76-70 back on January 29 and will face a much different team this time around on Sunday in their East Region third-round matchup with the Orange (-4.5) at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.
Syracuse snapped its four-game skid with a 66-58 victory at Connecticut four days later after falling at Marquette and closed out the regular season with seven wins in its last nine games. The Orange are coming off a 77-60 win over #14 Indiana State in the second round on Friday thanks to a monster effort from senior Rick Jackson, who scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Jackson also made a big impact at the free-throw line, sinking 9 of 11 shots despite shooting just 53 percent overall from the charity stripe this season. In addition, Syracuse got solid contributions from juniors Kris Joseph (12 points and 10 rebounds) and Scoop Jardine (nine points and nine assists). The team shot 52 percent from the field and made nearly 44 percent from 3-point range, with Jardine connecting on a team-high 3 of 4 behind the arc.
Marquette got into the Big Dance after winning its first two games in the Big East tournament and then proceeded to beat #6 Xavier 66-55 in the second round. The Golden Eagles got a game-high 19 points from Darius Johnson-Odom, including 13 in the second half as the Musketeers were attempting their comeback. Marquette went on a 13-3 run just before halftime to go up 33-20 on Xavier at the intermission and led by as many as 18 points in the second half.
The Golden Eagles did a tremendous job defensively on Atlantic-10 Conference Player of the Year Tu Holloway, who scored only five points on 1 of 9 shooting from the field. Jimmy Butler had three of the team’s six steals and also finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The Orange have won four of the five meetings with Marquette straight-up since the Golden Eagles joined the Big East. However, they have failed to cover the spread in the past two, both of which were decided by six points or less. Marquette has seen the UNDER go 13-2 in its last 15 games while the OVER has cashed in four straight for Syracuse.
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