RUTGERS LOOKS TO HALT LOSING AT SYRACUSE

March 3, 2009

It is senior night in the Carrier Dome and Syracuse, winners of three of their last four, come into the home finale feeling a little bit better about themselves. Last week, SU applied a thorough beatdown on both St. John's, in Madison Square Garden, and Cincinnati, at home, to improve to 9-7 in the Big East and 21-8 overall.

The Dome faithful will look to send the lone SU scholarship senior, Kristof Ongenaet, off as a winner when the Orange host floundering Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights dropped two more last week, at Notre Dame and vs. Rutgers, and are now 1-15 in the Big East.

Here are some pregame stories and previews on tonight's game:

Happy Days are Here Again at SU (Post-Standard)
Orange Scouting Report: Syracuse vs Rutgers (Post-Standard)
Syracuse-Rutgers Scouting Report (Asbury Park Press)
Griffin Making an Impact for Rutgers (Asbury Park Press)


There really is not a whole lot to analyze in this game. The Orange, according to the latest college basketball odds are 15 1/2-point favorites. SU will likely sit in their trademark 2-3 zone defense and dare the Scarlet Knights to make shots and create off the dribble by attacking the seam of the zones. Rutgers continues to struggle with a gameplan and then the execution of getting the ball into the paint. If you are unable to do that, the SU zone will tear you apart.

Offensively, Syracuse has too many athletic weapons for Rutgers to keep up with. Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris can all score and then Andy Rautins comes off the bench to drain three's and liven up the crowd. In the paint, Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson will at least hold their own against the under-utilized Greg Echenique and under-developed Hamady N'Diaye. Off the bench in the frontcourt is Ongenaet, a likely source of energy and toughness that will give his team an emotional lift when needed.

For Rutgers, the game will likely hinge on if freshman Mike Rosario can shoot the Knights into the game from beyond the arc. There seems to be little plan of attack after that. The script usually reads the RU opponent racing out to a big early lead and the Scarlet Knights bombing away from three-point range hoping to make a run. If Rosario is on against the zone it could happen. If not, it could be ugly...I am thinking it might be closer to the ugly side tonight.

NBE Blogger Preview:

Syracuse 86
Rutgers 67