NCAA Basketball Betting – Hoyas vs Orange
The Syracuse Orange lead four Big East teams in the latest AP poll, including No. 12 Georgetown who moved up two spots following a week that began with a win at home over Connecticut, 58-44.
Date/Time: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Venue: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York
Broadcast: ESPN
Spread: Orange -9
Over/Under: 119.5
After that came another win at home against South Florida, 75-45, and now the Hoyas will aim to extend its win streak to three with a huge upset win over Syracuse on Wednesday.
G-town shelled the Bulls their last time out, with a dominating defensive rebounding performance, while sinking a whopping 24 from the charity stripe.
For the second game in row, senior center Henry Sims led the Hoyas against the Bulls with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, as the dogs improved to 18-4 with a conference record of 8-3, still good enough for third place in the Big East.
Otto Porter (12), Jason Clark (11), Jabril Trawick (10) and Markel Starks (10) also scored in double figures for Georgetown which shot 51 percent from the field.
Meanwhile, after suffering their lone loss of the season to Notre Dame, Syracuse has rebounded by stringing together three wins, including their only game this week, as they smoked St. John’s, 95-70. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Orange uncorked their potent offense and shot a very impressive 55 percent from the field while holding the Red Storm to just 40. Syracuse also beat St. John’s with a barrage dishes, as Brandon Triche was a big factor with a game-leading five assists, which helped to facilitate a more balanced scoring attack for the Orange who had five scorers in double figures.
One of those being Fab Melo, who returned to the lineup on Saturday, after missing three straight games due to academic issues.
Melo contributed with a career-high 14 points, and two blocks (avg. 3 BPG) while providing a huge presence in the middle of the floor.
The win pushes the Orange’s record to 23-1, good enough for first in the Big East where they are 10-1.
With Melo back in the lineup, the Hoyas will need to rely on bigs Porter and Henry Sims to stand up tall in the paint and drag down the o-bounds in this one. If they can shutdown Syracuse’s inside penetration, they will force them to beat them from the perimeter, where G-town have held opponents to under 30 percent all season long.
Free Pick: Syracuse- This will be one of the best midweek games, and should come down to a late bucket that give the Orange a close win at home where they are a perfect 15-0.
