Syracuse, which has won six of its last nine, got behind early against Duke and could not overcome an 18-2 run by the Blue Devils. Duke shot extremely well in that game. The Orange have only lost back-to-back games once all season and I expect them to bounce back on Saturday afternoon.


"We battled as hard as we could after that start," Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. "We have to work better together, find a way to get better movement on offense, and be more active on the defensive end."

The defensive inconsistency in the second half of the last two games is bothersome to Boeheim.

"Our forwards are not playing defense. That's the best way I can say it. They're not," Boeheim said. "It's hard to know that when you don't know the defense and you don't know what we're trying to do. ... I think a couple of guys are more interested in their offense and you can't win that way. You have to play better defense to win. Period."

The Orange are led in scoring by Buddy Boeheim (15.5 points), followed closely by Alan Griffin (15.0 points, 6.7 rebounds) and Quincy Guerrier (14.8 points, 9.3 rebounds).
Syracuse steals a win here on the road.