Tonight at 7 pm, Syracuse basketball takes on the Louisville Cardinals on the road at the KFC Yum Center with an opportunity to win their 6th straight game and ninth out of 10.
Is there a hotter team in the ACC right now than Syracuse basketball? A case could be made for both Virginia and Miami, but SU is right there as well. After an 0-4 start in conference play, the Orange have reeled off eight conference victories in their last nine, with the lone loss coming to Virginia.
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The next big test for Syracuse comes tonight against Louisville, a team that is coming off back-to-back losses to Duke and Notre Dame and reeling after
banning themselves from postseason play
. Even so, Louisville remains 18th in the AP poll and is a force to be reckoned with, especially at home where they are 16-1 this season.
The Cardinals are led by Damion Lee and Trey Lewis, the senior backcourt tandem who represent one of the best guard combinations in the country. Lee is averaging 16.5 points and 3.9 rebounds a game. Lewis averages 12.2 points per game and both players shoot better than 36% from behind the arc. Both are incredibly talent transfers who have made an immediate impact for Louisville team that wasn’t expected to be this good.
Aside from those two, Louisville has a plethora of other players who see at least 15 minutes a game and all contribute to the offense and defense. All told, Louisville plays nine different players at least 13 minutes a game compared to Syracuse basketball’s six. That depth could be an issue for an Orange team that will be playing their third game in seven days, including second straight road game.
One of those other players for Louisville will have a familiar name to many Syracuse basketball fans. That name is Chinanu Onuaku, the younger brother of Arinze Onuaku, the former SU standout center. Onuaku is averaging 9.6 points and 8.4 rebounds as a sophomore and is looking more and more like his older brother. He’s an excellent post player with a soft touch around the rim that could be a nightmare for Syracuse on the interior.
Quentin Snyder is another player to watch, and yet another guard for Louisville. He’s averaging 9.8 points per game and shoots 41% from 3-point range. He also leads the team at 3.6 assists per game. He’s got an almost 3:1 assist to turnover ratio and is an excellent ball handler and perimeter threat that Syracuse will need to lock down.
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Yet
anotherguard for Louisville who has been playing well this year is freshman Donovan Mitchell who is averaging 8.2 points per game and 3.5 rebounds.
As if all these guards weren’t enough, Louisville also has a bevvy of big men they can throw at the Orange on the interior. Mangok Mathiang (6’10”), Raymond Spalding (6’10”), Jaylen Johnson (6’9″), and Anas Mahmoud (7’0″) all see significant minutes for Louisville and could allow them to go extra large against a much smaller Syracuse lineup.
This could be a matchup nightmare for the Orange, especially if Coleman or Lydon get into foul trouble. With Louisville’s ability to throw out either a small ball, three guard lineup, or a goliath front court that goes 6’10 and up, this could be an incredibly difficult test for Syracuse basketball.
Did I mention it’s also a road game? Syracuse is just 2-4 against Louisville on the road with Rick Pitino as their coach. On the plus side, those two victories are the last two times the teams have played. In 2013, Syracuse beat Louisville behind a huge game from Brandon Triche (23 points). In 2012, it was CJ Fair that led the charge. Both those games were decided by a single basket.
Don’t expect this game to be a walk in the park simply because Louisville has no post season to look forward to. Syracuse was in the same boat last year when they beat Louisville at the Dome, so this could be a little bit of revenge for Pitino and the Cardinals.
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Even so, Syracuse basketball has been playing outstanding the past several weeks and are looking to continue that trend. Michael Gbinije has finally found his stroke again from the outside, Malachi Richardson has become much more consistent, and Tyler Lydon has really stepped up as a scoring threat. If they can continue that play tonight, they can absolutely get a victory.
My prediction: Syracuse basketball wins another close one 68-66 on a last second basket from Michael Gbinije. This is the win that finally catapults the Orange into the top 25 and earns them some of the respect they should have been seeing the past couple weeks.
Check back after the game for full coverage of the contest and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter as I will be live tweeting the game.