Orange Begins Road Run At Rutgers

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PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The #5/5 Orange (15-1, 2-1) embarks on its longest road trip of the season Wednesday, Jan. 13. Syracuse visits Rutgers (9-6, 0-3) for a 7:30 p.m. contest at the Louis Brown Athletic Center to start a three-game road trip that includes a matchup with nationally-ranked West Virginia on Jan. 16 and culminates with an ESPN “Big Monday” date at Notre Dame on Jan. 18.

The Orange is unbeaten away from the Carrier Dome thus far, posting a 3-0 record in neutral-site encounters and winning its first true road game of the year at Seton Hall on Dec. 29.

Wednesday's game will be televised live on the BIG EAST Network. 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 ORANGE

Syracuse improved to a 2-1 against BIG EAST Conference competition on Sunday with an 82-65 home victory versus USF. The win was the second for the Orange last week as it also defeated Memphis last Wednesday. The two victories, and losses by Kansas, Duke and Purdue, helped elevate the Orange back to the No. 5 spot in both national polls.

Junior Wes Johnson posted another double-double against the Bulls, leading the Orange with 19 points and 13 rebounds. His performance coupled with his 19-point showing against Memphis led to his selection as a member of this week's BIG EAST Honor Roll released Monday.

In three conference games, Johnson is averaging 19.3 points and a league-best 12.7 rebounds, including 19 boards in SU's win at Seton Hall.

JOHNSON APPROACHING MILESTONE

Johnson could reach a career milestone Wednesday at Rutgers. He enters the game with 994 career points, six shy of reaching 1,000 for his career. Johnson spent the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons at Iowa State where he scored 716 points. He sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules and has emerged as one of the top scorers in the BIG EAST. Johnson is averaging 17.4 points per outing this season and has 278 total points on the year.

BIGS BULLY BULLS

Senior center Arinze Onuaku and junior forward Rick Jackson combined for 27 points in the win against USF. Onuaku was 5-for-5 against the Bulls and finished with 12 points. He has made his last eight field-goal tries dating back to the Memphis game.

Jackson tallied 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. He also added a free throw. It was the most points for the Philadelphia, Pa. native against a BIG EAST team so far this season.

SCOUTING RUTGERS

The Scarlet Knights are searching for their first league victory and enter Wednesday's game with a 9-6 overall record, including an 0-3 mark in the BIG EAST. Rutgers has lost its last four games after winning six in a row from Dec. 3 to Dec. 22.

In the midst of the losing streak, sophomore center Greg Echenique announced his decision to transfer. Echenique was already out for the remainder of this season with an eye injury. He played in seven games, averaging 12.7 points and a team-best 7.7 rebounds before getting hurt.

Without Echenique, the Scarlet Knights have relied mainly on senior Hamady Ndiaye down low. Ndiaye has chipped in 9.2 points and 5.5 boards per game. He is also the nation's third-leading shot blocker at 4.9 per game.

Sophomore Mike Rosario, the first McDonald's All-American to attend Rutgers, leads the team in scoring (16.1 ppg). Junior Mike Coburn (6.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg), sophomore Patrick Jackson (3.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg) and redshirt junior Jonathan Mitchell (10.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg) round out Rutgers' likely starting rotation. Mitchell is averaging 17.5 points per game the last two outings, including a career-best 18 points the last time out against Providence.

Coach Fred Hill is in his fourth season at the helm of the Rutgers program. He is 41-66 overall, including an 11-21 record last season. Prior to taking over the Scarlet Knights, Hill was an associate head coach for Rutgers in 2005-06 and also served as an assistant at Villanova, Seton Hall and Fairleigh Dickinson.

THE SERIES

Syracuse has a 35-9 advantage in the overall series with Rutgers. The Orange is 13-8 all-time at in road games against the Scarlet Knights. The teams met twice last season, with Syracuse winning both sides of the home-and-home matchup, including a 70-40 win in the most recent encounter on March 3, 2009 at the Carrier Dome.

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