Thursday, December 10
Tampa, FL
9:00 p.m.
Syracuse University
vs
University of Florida
Andy Rautins had nine assists against Maine on Saturday.
Top 10 Teams Collide In SEC/BIG EAST Invitational
12/9/2009 3:20:09 PM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The #7/6 Syracuse Orange travels to Tampa, Fla. to take on the #10/11 Florida Gators on Thursday, Dec. 10 as part of the Direct TV SEC/BIG EAST Invitational. Both teams enter the contest undefeated with 8-0 records. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. at the St. Pete Times Forum.
The matchup will be televised live on ESPN. Fans can also listen to the action live via the Syracuse ISP Radio Network and its flagship TK 99 (99.5 FM). The audio stream of the radio broadcast will be available on SUathletics.com as part of Orange All Access.
ABOUT THE SEC/BIG EAST INVITATIONAL
The 2009-10 season marks the third edition of the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational. The two-night event takes place at two venues and features eight teams (four from the SEC and four from the BIG EAST). It gets underway Wednesday night with a doubleheader at Madison Square Garden in New York. Georgia will face St. John's in the opening game with Connecticut and Kentucky matching up in the nightcap. On Thursday night in Tampa, DePaul will meet Mississippi State followed by the Gators and Syracuse.
Teams invited to participate in the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational are chosen by ESPN in consultation with the conferences and are based on geographic and competitive criteria. The BIG EAST holds 5-3 advantage in the first two years of the event.
ABOUT THE ORANGE
After defeating the Black Bears of Maine on Dec. 5, 101-55, Syracuse once again moved up in the national rankings. The team received its highest ranking of the season in this week's Associated Press poll, coming in at No. 7. The sixth-place ranking in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll is the Orange's best since the 2004-2005 season.
Against Maine, the Orange broke the game open with a 32-0 first-half run and held the Black Bears scoreless for 11 minutes in that stretch. Syracuse overwhelmed the Black Bears with a balanced offensive attack that featured six double-digit scorers. The Orange was red-hot from the field, shooting 65.1 percent and limited the Black Bears to a 26.5 shooting percentage.
Freshman guard Brandon Triche led the Orange in scoring with 16 points on his way to BIG EAST Rookie of the Week Honors. Senior center Arinze Onuaku and sophomore forward Kris Joseph each added 14 points, while redshirt freshman Mookie Jones matched his career-high with 12 points. Redshirt sophomore guard Scoop Jardine and freshman James Southerland rounded out the double digit scorers, adding 10 points each. Senior guard Andy Rautins dished out a game-best nine assists.
It was the latest brilliant offensive showing for Syracuse, which leads the nation this week in field-goal percentage (.557, 275-494). The Orange also leads the country in assists per game (23.6) and steals per game (14.3) and ranks second in scoring average (90.4 ppg), scoring margin (+28.8) and blocks per game (8.6).
ONUAKU FOUR POINTS SHY OF 1,000
Senior center Arinze Onuaku is poised to become the latest in a long line of Orange 1,000-point scorers. The Lanham, Md. native currently has 996 points in his 110 career games, a scoring average of 9.1 points per contest. When he reaches the plateau he will become the 52nd SU player to record 1,000 points. Only North Carolina (62), Louisville (60), Duke (59) and Kentucky (57) have more 1,000-point scorers in their basketball history than Syracuse.
SCOUTING THE GATORS
Florida is off to its best start since 2005 and is 8-0 for just the third time in school history. The Gators' most recent win was an 85-67 defeat of Jacksonville on Friday, Dec. 4.
The Jacksonville game was the first true road test of the year for Florida (the Gators played a pair of neutral-site games against Michigan State and Rutgers earlier in the year). Against the Dolphins, Florida hit 12 3-pointers and had four players score in double figures. Sophomore Erving Walker led all scorers with 18 points. Junior Vernon Macklin (16 points), freshman Kenny Boynton (15 points) and senior Dan Werner (13 points) all contributed to the Gators' offensive attack.
The Gator backcourt of Walker and Boynton is averaging a combined 25.7 points and 8.5 assists per game. Walker is the team's leading scorer at 13.9 points per game. Junior Chandler Parsons is the squad's top rebounder (6.4 rpg). Parsons is also averaging 11.1 points per contest.
Florida's defense has been one the keys to its early-season success. The Gators gave up 65 points to Jacksonville, only the second opponent to score more than 60 points on them this season. Florida is holding opponents to a 38.7 field-goal percentage and is limiting its foes to 21.4 percent from 3-point range.
Billy Donovan is in his 14th season as the head coach of the Gators and Thursday's matchup marks his 500th game as a college head coach. He owns a 318-126 record at Florida, guiding the team to consecutive national championships in 2006 and 2007. Before becoming the head coach at Florida, Donovan spent two years as the head coach of Marshall, compiling a 35-20 record there.
Donovan began his coaching career at Kentucky after a one-year stint in the NBA. During his time with the Wildcats (1989-94), Donovan held the positions of graduate assistant, assistant and associate head coach under head coach Rick Pitino. Donovan was a player for Pitino at Providence and led the team to the 1987 Final Four.
THE SERIES
Syracuse and Florida have met three times and the Orange leads the all-time series, 2-1. The two teams last squared off on Nov. 24, 2008 in the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. Syracuse emerged with an 89-83 victory in that game. The Orange also won the first series meeting, 87-81, on March 19, 1987.
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