Jim Boeheim and former SU assistant Ralph Willard will match wits Monday when Holy Cross invades the Carrier Dome.
Unbeatens Clash Monday in the Dome
11/26/2006 1:07:51 PM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After a successful jaunt to Buffalo for its first road game of the season, #17/14 Syracuse (6-0) returns home to face unbeaten Holy Cross (5-0) on Monday, Nov. 27 at 7:00 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. The Crusaders are off to their best start since they won their first six contests of the 1988-89 campaign under Coach George Blaney. Tickets for the game can purchased on suathletics.com by clicking here or by calling the Carrier Dome Box Office at 1-888-DOMETIX. The game will also be televised live on ESPNU.
The Orange remained unbeaten, rallying from 15 points down in the first half to beat Canisius, 81-71, at HSBC Arena in Buffalo on Saturday. Senior Demetris Nichols led SU with 20 points, including three 3-point field goals. He passed Dave Johnson for 10th in career 3-pointers with the performance and now has 118 in 94 games.
Nichols led five Syracuse players in double figures, including rookie Paul Harris who tallied 12 points in his return to Western New York. Harris also grabbed nine rebounds for the second straight game, and his 8.3 season rebounds per game average is tied with 7-foot-3 Connecticut rookie Hasheem Thabeet for the best rebounding mark among freshmen in the BIG EAST.
Sophomore Eric Devendorf finished with 17 points, including 11 straight in a critical second-half stretch to clinch the victory. Senior Terrence Roberts (12 points) and junior point guard Josh Wright (11 points) also scored in double figures for SU. Wright also contributed a personal-best five steals and dished out eight assists.
Syracuse is shooting almost 48 percent from the field (160-334, .479) for the season compared to 34.2 percent for its foes (135-395). The Orange has also done a good job of getting to the foul line, attempting 179 free throws to 96 for its opponents. SU is averaging 29.8 free throws per game to 16.0 for its foes.
Holy Cross mentor Ralph Willard is familiar with the Orange, having coached BIG EAST rival Pittsburgh from 1994-99 and after having served as an assistant on Jim Boeheim’s staff during the Orange’s run to the national championship game in 1986-87. However, that familiarity has not translated to success. Willard is 1-7 against his former mentor with his only win versus Boeheim coming in 1997 when the Panthers defeated SU, 65-63.
Willard is now in his eighth season at the helm of the Crusaders. He has averaged better than 19 wins per season since taking over in 1999-2000, and his Holy Cross teams have earned three NCAA Tournament berths and advanced to the NIT once. The Crusaders won three consecutive Patriot League titles from 2001-03.
The Crusaders’ backcourt of Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas has combined to average 32.6 points per game in their first five outings. Simmons leads the club in scoring (18.2) and rebounding (6.6). Thomas is averaging 14.4 points per outing and one of the two seniors has been the team’s top scorer in four of its first five games.
Junior center Tim Clifford leads the Holy Cross frontcourt at 11.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest. Sophomore forward Alex Vander Baan is pulling down 6.4 boards per game.
Monday’s clash is the first meeting between the two schools since 1981 when the Orange posted a 77-57 victory against Crusaders in the NIT. The two teams have split the 24 meetings in the all-time series with each squad winning 12 times.
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