BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Syracuse @ Notre Dame

January 11, 2006


Syracuse embarks on their first true road test tonight as the travel to South Bend, IN to meet the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Over the last three seasons, the Orange and Irish have met twice a year in the regular season, this is the only regular season meeting this year. Even though Syracuse has dominated in terms of wins and losses, the average score in the six contests has been 76-73 in favor of Syracuse, who have also won the last three on the Irish home floor during this timeframe.

Although Mike Brey has downplayed the importance of this game in the media, it is a game the Irish have to have at home. The Irish schedule does favor them this season as it does not have the likes of Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Syracuse two times (instead, it is Marquette, DePaul and Providence twice each), but an 0-3 start in the conference will keep you staring up hill the rest of the way. The latter half of their conference schedule turns easy, but with their next six after SU featuring road trips to Marquette, Louisville and West Virginia with home dates against Villanova, Georgetown and Providence, avoiding an 0-3 start is crucial in keeping the Irish on the minds of the NCAA Selection Committee.

READ REST OF PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW

For Syracuse, this is also a very big game. Any time you have a chance to steal a road game, you must take advantage and Syracuse is in the midst of a killer stretch of schedule. After the game at Notre Dame, the Orange travel to meet Cincinnati on the weekend and turnaround for a Monday date with Connecticut at home. Then, they conclude the stretch with a trip to Villanova on the following Saturday and then travel across the state for a Monday meeting at Pittsburgh. With their conference schedule, that is more of the norm for the Orange who have Connecticut, Villanova and Cincinnati twice this year. Kicking this stretch off with a win would be a huge statement for a team that seems to be teetering on the edge of being a conference contender.

This game highlights two of the better senior lead guards in the conference with Chris Quinn of the Irish and Gerry McNamara of Syracuse. Quinn is averaging 16.3 PPG with a team high 6.5 assists a game to 2.3 turnovers. McNamara is putting up similar numbers with 16.6 PPG and 6.6 assists with 3.1 turnovers. Where they are really different this season is with their shooting percentages. Quinn is shooting 43.5% from the floor and 42% from beyond the arc while McNamara is hitting just 32.6+ from the floor and 32% from deep. If McNamara can get his offensive game to be more efficient, it would be a great help to the Orange, but he seems to try to do too much as the lead guard offensively, taking away from some of the rest of the team. With Josh Wright battling a sore toe, McNamara has not been getting much time off the ball, which seems to impact his shooting.

Syracuse should have the advantage with the rest of their line-ups as they look to start freshmen Eric Devendorf (10 PPG) alongside McNamara and Demetris Nichols (15 PPG) at the wing and Terence Roberts (12 PPG and team high 8.6 rebounds) and Daryl Watkins (6 PPG and 7 rebounds) up front. Junior Louie McCroskey seems to be back in the flow off the bench and could be a key perimeter defensive presence on the floor. Josh Wright’s health definitely impacts the Orange depth and freshmen Arinze Onuaku is the only front court reserve that sees regular time. Andy Rautins and Matt Gorman add some additional depth, but are kind of last resort type subs, even though Rautins is coming off a 10-pt performance against USF.

For the Irish, they have the inconsistent Colin Falls and Torin Francis to rely on behind Quinn. Falls is a player that can spot up against the Syracuse zone and shoot the Irish right in the game. Or, the Orange can go man to man and Falls could be rendered useless on the court as he does not add much of a presence on the boards or on defense. Francis has averaged 16.6 PPG and nearly 10 rebounds a contest in his career against Syracuse. He will have to have similar numbers tonight to help the Irish produce a balances offensive effort. The athletic Russell Carter adds nearly 10 PPG as a starting guard and the sweet shooting freshmen Kyle McAlarney adds about 7 PPG off the bench in the guard rotation. Up front, freshmen Luke Zeller and Rob Kurz both add about 5 PPG and 5 rebounds a night splitting time at the PF position and Rick Cornett adds about the same spotting Torin Francis at the C position.

I think both teams can, and will try repeatedly, to attack and expose the other’s weaknesses. I look for Syracuse to play more man to man than they are used to and go to their full court press to push tempo, something Notre Dame in the past has fallen into the trap with. For Notre Dame, I look for them to play somewhat of an extended zone against the Orange shooters and try to make Syracuse beat them in a half court setting on offense, something Syracuse can get really frustrated trying to do because their big men have not shown the ability to be consistent offensive threats in a half court set. If they game slows down, advantage Notre Dame, if the game gets shifted into a higher gear, advantage Syracuse….so, who will dictate tempo? My fear for Notre Dame is that Mike Brey will not commit to the half court style and integrate his big men into the offense on a consistent basis. However, with it being the first real road test for the Orange and a MUST win game, no matter what they say publicly, for the Irish, you can not count out a desperate home team.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Syracuse 73 Notre Dame 70

Leave your prediction in the comments section!