Syracuse basketball takes on the Boston College Eagles on Wednesday night at 7 pm in the Carrier Dome with both teams in desperate need of a win.
Syracuse has opened conference play with four straight losses. Boston College is 0-2, and 7-8 overall. At the end of Wednesday night, one of these teams will have their first conference win and get out of the ACC cellar. Hopefully it’s Syracuse.
After a pretty brutal start to ACC conference play, Syracuse basketball finds itself against an opponent they should beat. Note I said should, as it’s clear to anyone reading this that Syracuse can win or lose to pretty much anyone in the country. With quality victories over Texas A&M and Connecticut, and brutal losses to St. John’s, Wisconsin, Georgetown, and Clemson, no one can really predict what the Orange will do.
What I can predict is that it’s most likely going to be another close game, as almost all of them have been this season for Syracuse. They’re not getting blown out by anyone, but they’re not winning comfortably this season either. Let’s take a quick look at the Boston College roster and then go over some of the keys to this game.
Boston College is a very poor offensive team. They have just two players averaging over 10 points per game, and only score 66 as a team (308th nationally). They are led by senior guard Eli Carter, who is averaging 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists per game. Those are some pretty solid numbers, but you also have to consider he’s only shooting 39% from the field and 30% from 3, so he’s anything but efficient.
Their second leading scorer is Jerome Robinson, a 6’5″ freshman guard who’s averaging 12.3 points and shooting 35% from 3-point range. Their leading rebounder is Dennis Clifford, a 7’1″ senior center who’s averaging 9.5 points and 7 rebounds a game. For someone that big, those numbers are not all that impressive. His size could prove to be a big problem for Syracuse however, who’s tallest player is 6’9″ Dajuan Coleman.
Other than that, there’s not much to say about the BC roster. They have one 3-point ace, Matt Milon, but he’s only made 18 of them all year and plays just 15 minutes per contest. The rest are a bunch of role players who are all shooting rather poorly and don’t have any standout numbers.
So what does Syracuse need to do to win? Let’s take a look at the 4 keys to this game and how Syracuse can go about getting their first conference win.