Senior Night For Onuaku, Rautins When No. 1 Syracuse Hosts St. John's

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The top-ranked Orange (27-2, 14-2) will host St. John's (15-13, 5-11) in its regular-season home finale on Tuesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. It's the final time seniors Andy Rautins and Arinze Onuaku will take the floor at the Carrier Dome. The duo will be recognized in a brief Senior Night ceremony prior to the contest. Also taking part in the Senior Night festivities will be team managers Brett Woltz, Matt Reynolds, Dan Gibbs and Spencer Weinman.

Tickets for the game are available online, by phone (1-888-DOMETIX) or in person at the Carrier Dome Box office. The game will be televised live on the BIG EAST Network. Fans can also listen to the action 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.

RAUTINS AND ONUAKU PLAY FINAL DOME GAME

Both Rautins and Onuaku have etched their names in the Orange basketball record books during their time at Syracuse. They are both members of the 1,000-point club with Onuaku entering the game with 1,194 points and Rautins accumulating 1,040. Onuaku has played in 131 games and will conclude his career as the school's all-time leader in field-goal percentage. He is currently at .646 (522-808). Three of his season field-goal percentage totals rank in the top 10 in school history, including his .662 clip this year.

Rautins is one of the top 3-point shooters the Orange has ever had. He is second on the SU career list for 3-pointers made (261), attempted (704) and ranks seventh in 3-point percentage (.371). Rautins and Gerry McNamara share the school record for three's made in a game. Rautins hit nine against Coppin State in 2008-09 to equal McNamara's mark achieved against BYU in the 2004 NCAA Tournament.

Rautins has played in 121 career games and has seen his scoring average increase every season. He is second on this year's club in points per game at 11.8.

ORANGE TOPS NATIONAL POLLS

Tuesday's game will be the first time since 1990 that Syracuse will take the floor as the nation's No. 1 team. The Orange moved up from the fourth slot to first in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls on Monday. Kansas, Kentucky and Purdue each lost over the weekend and Syracuse posted a 95-77 win against #7/8 Villanova to claim the top position.

SU ON CUSP OF OUTRIGHT BIG EAST REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP

The Orange guaranteed itself the No. 1 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament with its win against Villanova Saturday. The victory also clinched at least a share of the conference regular-season title for the ninth time since the formation of the BIG EAST in 1979-80.

Syracuse is 14-2 in conference play and can win the regular-season title outright with a victory in either of its last two games (versus St. John's or at Louisville).

JACKSON NAMED BIG EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK

One of the many stars in the Orange's win against Villanova Saturday was junior forward Rick Jackson. He led the team with 19 points against the Wildcats. He also eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals on his way to being named the BIG EAST Player of the Week for the first time. In addition, Jackson scored a career-best 28 points in the team's win at Providence last Tuesday. He averaged 23.5 points and 8.5 boards in the two games and was 22-for-32 (.688) from the field.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S

St. John's continues to work on improving its BIG EAST Tournament seed. The Red Storm won back-to-back games against Louisville and at Notre Dame, but has since lost three of its last four. In the club's most recent outing, St. John's lost to Pitt on Saturday, 71-64.

Coach Norm Roberts is in his sixth season at St. John's and has led the Red Storm to a 79-98 record during that time.

St. John's is led by junior swingman D.J. Kennedy (14.6 ppg., 6.2 rpg., 2.9 apg.) and junior guard Dwight Hardy (10.8 ppg.). Junior forward Sean Evans is averaging 5.9 rebounds a game.

THE SERIES

SU has a 45-37 advantage in the all-time series with St. John's. It includes a 24-11 record in Syracuse home games with the Red Storm. The Orange has won nine of the last 10 meetings between the two clubs.

Syracuse University Athletics

Senior Night For Onuaku, Rautins When No. 1 Syracuse Hosts St. John's

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