Villanova Wildcats at Syracuse Orange, Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Saturday, January 22, 2011, 12:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN
Opening Line: Syracuse -5
Current Line: Syracuse -5.5
Opening Total: 139
Current Total: 141.5
Money Line: Syracuse -240 / Villanova +200
With Syracuse leading scorer Kris Joseph expected to be back on the court in front of another NCAA record crowd at the Carrier Dome, the third-ranked Orange (18-1, 5-1 Big East) hope to bounce back from their only loss of the season when they host the seventh-ranked Villanova Wildcats (16-2, 4-1) on Saturday. Joseph missed Monday’s 74-66 loss at #5 Pittsburgh after banging his head on the floor in the first half of the team’s 67-52 rout of Cincinnati last Saturday. But he will be needed as the Orange (-5) try to break last year’s attendance mark of 34,616 fans.
Losing to the Panthers may have been the first loss for Syracuse, but some could argue the team scored a moral victory after rallying back from an early 19-0 deficit with a 17-0 run minus Joseph, who had averaged 19.5 points in the first four conference games. The Orange hung tough for most of the game and saw freshmen C.J. Fair and Dion Waiters gain valuable experience despite playing in such a hostile environment.
Fair and Waiters combined to score 25 points in the losing effort while senior forward Rick Jackson added 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Jackson and junior point guard Scoop Jardine are both Philadelphia natives and will be extra motivated to face Villanova. The Philly duo totaled 35 points and 17 rebounds between them in last year’s 95-77 rout of the Wildcats.
Villanova trailed the last meeting 46-36 at halftime after winning the previous three meetings in the series and the past two head-to-head matchups at the Dome. The Wildcats are also 3-1 against the spread in the last four games between the teams and will take the court following a tough 61-59 loss at Connecticut on Monday. They failed to reach 60 points for the first time in 51 games and were led by a career-high 28 points from Corey Fisher.
Leading scorer Corey Stokes was held to only three points for Villanova on 0-for-6 shooting from the field and saw UConn’s Kemba Walker hit the game-winning shot with 2.5 seconds remaining. Fisher had tied the game with two free throws at the 25-second mark. Walker finished with a team-high 24 points for the Huskies, who snapped an 11-game winning streak for the Wildcats.
Even with the loss, Villanova has covered its last six games overall with the UNDER cashing in three of the past four. The UNDER is also 4-2 in the last six games for Syracuse, although the last three meetings with the Wildcats have all been high-scoring game with the OVER cashing each time. In fact, the winner of the last six meetings has averaged over 89 points per game.
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