Cornell will play its first game in two weeks when it visits Syracuse Tuesday evening at the Carrier Dome. Cornell is coming off a 78-62 win over Southeast Missouri State in Las Vegas, and the Orange are coming off an embarrassing 93-60 loss to St. John’s at the Carrier Dome, the worst home loss Syracuse has suffered in Jim Boeheim’s 41 seasons as coach.
To get us prepped for the game, we sat down with our friend Wes Cheng over at The Juice Online to get an Orange scouting report for the upcoming game.
Ivy Hoops Online: Tell us about The Juice Online.
The Juice Online: The Juice (then called The Big Orange) was founded in 1992, one of
approximately 50 independent publications devoted to the coverage of
its school’s athletics programs. In 2002, it became a full-color,
glossy magazine which was owned by Fox Sports. The print product
ceased publication in June of 2010 and was relaunched as The Juice
Online in December of 2010. In February 2012, The Juice Online
partnered with SportsNet New York, the official television home of the
New York Mets and New York Jets. As part of SNY.tv’s Blog Network, The
Juice Online supplements SNY’s coverage of more than 125 college
football and basketball games, as well as other college sports
programming.
IHO: What are the major story lines with Syracuse?
TJO: Prior to the season, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was optimistic about
his 2016-17 Orange team, calling it among the deepest he’s had during
his long tenure as head coach. But SU has fallen well short of those
expectations, and already has five losses. Two of them were to
Wisconsin and South Carolina, two teams that you expect to be NCAA
Tournament teams come March. But three of those losses were to old Big
East foes Connecticut, Georgetown and St. John’s, all teams that have
struggled mightily to start the season. A 30+ point blowout to a Red
Storm team that has already lost to Delaware State and LIU has raised
the red flags in Central New York, causing many in the fan base to
wonder whether the Orange can salvage the season and sneak into the
NCAA Tournament, much like they did last year. There’s no one thing
that has gone wrong, but among the problems have been weak point guard
play, a leaky defense that has struggled to defend the 3-point line,
and a leak of cohesion in crunch time.
IHO: Who are the stars on Syracuse?
TJO: The two main players to watch out for on Syracuse are graduate
transfer Andrew White III and sophomore Tyler Lydon. White leads SU in
scoring at 15.0 points per game, but he’s struggle against
high-majors, and is averaging just 10.4 points, 28.6 percent shooting
from the field and 25.7 percent shooting from downtown. Syracuse’s
most tantilizing prospect is Lydon, currently second on the team with
12.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Orange coaches have urged Lydon
to be more aggressive, and he’s obliged over the past few games,
including a 29-point performance on 12-13 shooting against Georgetown
in a 78-71 loss.
IHO: What are your predictions for the game?
TJO: Though Syracuse has struggled against high-majors, and with all due
respect to Cornell, the Orange has had no such issues against lesser
competition. Prior to SU’s embarassing loss to St. John’s, it blew out
Eastern Michigan, 105-57, and also won by 22 over Boston University. I
expect Cornell to keep pace with Matt Morgan and Stone Gettings
getting clean looks from beyond the arc, but in the end, SU’s
athleticism will overwhelm the Big Red leading to a relatively easy
win for the Cuse. Syracuse 75, Cornell 59.