Jim Boeheim (left) will coach his 500th BIG EAST game on Wednesday at Rutgers.
Syracuse Plays 500th BIG EAST Game at Rutgers Wednesday
1/9/2007 12:08:10 PM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange men’s basketball team (12-4, 1-1) faces its second straight conference opponent on the road when it meets Rutgers (8-7, 1-1) on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Wednesday’s game will be the 500th BIG EAST game (including conference tournament contests) for the Orange and it will be televised live on ESPN Regional and available in the Syracuse area on Time Warner 26. Live audio of the contest can be heard on suathletics.com via Orange All Access and fans can also tune in to the Syracuse Radio Network broadcast on WAQX (95.7 FM) and WNSS (1260 AM).
Syracuse is 323-176 in 499 BIG EAST games, all of which have been coached by Jim Boeheim. He holds the league's longest tenure of any conference coach having been on the bench since the BIG EAST's inception.
Both squads enter the pairing after Sunday road wins in the league. Before SU won at Marquette on Sunday night, Rutgers claimed triumph at Cincinnati during the afternoon, 54-42.
Against the Golden Eagles, SU forced 23 turnovers and held Marquette to 37.5 percent shooting from the field in its 70-58 win. Boeheim’s club allowed just three points in the final 4:05 to seal the victory.
The Orange is third in the conference in scoring defense, holding its foes to 37.8 percent (385-1018) shooting from the floor in 2006-07. SU is also averaging 7.88 blocked shots per game which ranks second in the conference behind Connecticut and third in the nation. The Orange swatted nine shots versus Marquette.
Offensively, Syracuse got a season-high 20 points off the bench from sophomore guard Eric Devendorf. Devendorf has been the team’s most explosive scorer in conference play, averaging 18.5 points per game in SU’s two league encounters. Senior center Darryl Watkins posted his second double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 rebounds against the Golden Eagles. Senior Demetris Nichols turned in another solid effort with 17 points at Marquette, his 15th double-digit scoring performance of the year. He is inching ever closer to the 1,000 career-point mark. He needs 14 at Rutgers Wednesday to achieve it.
The Knights are in the first year of head coach Fred Hill’s tenure at the helm. He has the squad off to an 8-7 start that includes six wins in the last eight games. Hill is a BIG EAST veteran, having served as an assistant at Seton Hall (1998-2001), Villanova (2001-05) and Rutgers (2005-06) before becoming a head coach.
Sophomore forward JR Inman has been the club’s top performer to date. He’s averaging a team-best 12.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Syracuse has a 31-9 lead in the overall series and has won five in a row, including an 86-84 overtime victory at the Carrier Dome last season. Terrence Roberts hit one of the most memorable shots of the year, a three from the top of key with three seconds to go in the extra session, to win it. The Orange overcame a Carrier Dome record 41 points from Quincy Douby (36 in regulation) to score the victory.
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