Orangemen vs. Huskies Closes BIG EAST Regular Season
3/6/2004 11:43:51 AM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, NY --The 2003-04 BIG EAST Conference regular season ends in an appropriate place on Sunday, March 7. Syracuse's Carrier Dome, the host of the largest crowds in conference history, has 24/arv Syracuse vs. 7/8 Connecticut on its marquee in a 2:00 p.m. tipoff in front of an expected crowd of over 32,000.
The Orangemen-Huskies pairing is the last regular-season contest on the BIG EAST regular-season itinerary this year. Syracuse is angling for the fourth seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament while Connecticut has already secured a first-round bye with the clinching of a top-three seed.
Connecticut already owns a convincing 84-56 triumph against the Orangemen, a February 2 result in Hartford.
As of Friday afternoon, the Carrier Dome ticket office had already sold 32,000 entries to Sunday's encounter. The Dome attendance record of 33,071 was set in last year's regular-season finale against Rutgers. The mark is also the NCAA's on-campus standard.
Sunday will mark the final home-court appearance for Syracuse's Jeremy McNeil. The senior center has played in 130 games during his career, a total that is tied for the eighth-best in program history. He enters the game ranked fifth in career blocked shots at SU with 249 swats to his credit.
Senior walk-ons Josh Brooks, Gary Hall, Ronneil Herron and Andrew Kouwe, plus senior manager Jonathan Sandgarten, will be recognized along with McNeil in pregame ceremonies.
The Orangemen are coming off consecutive road triumphs at Pittsburgh and West Virginia. SU has held their last four opponents to fewer than 60 points and have posted wins in all of those contests.
Junior Hakim Warrick has been in the top five in the conference in scoring average all season and currently ranks second at 19.9 points per outing.
Sophomore Gerry McNamara has 82 three this season, six short of tying Preston Shumpert for the single-season record. Shumpert canned 88 triples in 2001-02. He leads the BIG EAST in three-point field goals made.
Connecticut enters the Dome with a 24-5 overall record. The Huskies have won their last five games since losing 75-68 at Pittsburgh on Feb. 15. Four of their five losses have come away from home.
The Huskies have two players that have topped the 500-point plateau this season. Emeka Okafor has tallied 541 points this season and ranks third in the league in scoring average (19.3). He also ranks first in the BIG EAST in rebounding (11.6 rpg), field goal percentage (223-365, .611), blocked shots average (4.6). Ben Gordon has scored 504 points in 2003-04 and ranks first in the conference in three-point field goal percentage (78-171, .456). He is averageing 17.4 points per contest.
The Huskies are averaging 80.8 points per game, while holding their opponents to just 64.1.
The Orangemen hold a 43-28 lead in the all-time series, including a 21-10 mark in games contested in Syracuse. The Huskies have won the last four meetings between the two schools. SU's last win came on Feb. 19, 2001. Shumpert connected on a team-record eight three's in the game and finished with 34 points.
Sunday's game will televised live nationally on CBS with Jim Nantz handling the play-by-play and Billy Packer providing color analysis.
Fans can also listen to the game on the SU Radio Network with the “Voice of the Orange” Mark Johnson and color analyst Matt Park. The pre-game show will begin 60 minutes prior to tip off on 1260 AM with the rest of the network joining the broadcast 30 minutes before game time. Fans can also hear the contest live via the Internet at www.suathletics.com
Tickets for Tuesday’s game are available at the Carrier Dome Box Office (Gate B), by telephone (1-888-DOMETIX) or on the Internet at www.dometix.com
