After breaking West Virginia’s hearts on Monday winning 63-52 the Orange improved to 21-6 and eighth in the Big East Conference. Getting a win on Monday was a must as the Orange in their last ten games have been awful, 4-6 to be exact. To make it even worse three out of those six losses came at home. So is it time to push the panic button?
On Saturday the Orange will face un-ranked Rutgers. Though the Scarlet Knights are just one game above .500 and 13th in the Big East Conference they are still a scary team to play. With wins over Seton Hall and Villanova this Scarlet Knight team does know how to pull off the upset. But most of all they know how to shoot the three ball, a proven weakness in the Orange’s 2-3 zone defense. In the Orange’s six losses this season their opponents have shot close to 50 percent from the three point line.
If the Orange want to win this game they will have to stay active and contest the three point shots. But most of all they must pay close attention senior Jonathan Mitchell who on the season is shooting 42 percent from behind the arc.
After the Scarlet Knights leave town the Orange will travel to 800 Lancaster Ave, Villanova, PA to face the Wild Cats in the Pavilion. An atmosphere that is just simply brutal. Though there are only 6,500 seats in the building the majority of those seats are filled with loud blatant fans who scream at the top of their lungs where the noise level reaches decimating degrees.
Standing room only is what the students go by as they sometimes fit up to 2500 or more students in their student section that is built to fit only 2000. While the crowd will play a key factor in this game so will the Orange’s defense. Once again stop the three ball, a thing that the Orange didn’t do when they lost to the Wild Cats back in January.
The next thing the Orange must do is stop guards Maalik Waynes (21 points last meeting) and Corey Fisher (16 points last meeting). In the first half the two combined for 6 of 7 from the three point line.
After the Orange leave the Pavilion things don’t get any easier as they travel to Georgetown to face their arch rival the Hoyas. After stunning the Orange in the end by closing the game out on a 15-3 run the Hoyas would beat the Orange 64-56 in a win that looked in favor of the Orange for almost the whole entire game.
What happened was the Orange broke down by not getting back on defense on allowing the Hoyas to score several times on fast break points overall just getting out hustled. Also the Orange went into panic mode as they were forcing up three pointers when they should’ve been looking for closer shots. In those closing four minutes that the Hoyas made their 15-3 run, the Orange shot five three pointers, making none of them.
Though that hasn’t been the first time the Orange has had a scoring drought like that one before take the Pittsburgh game for example, when the Panthers opened up to a 19-0 lead to start the game. It’s just un-acceptable. Saying that, if the Orange want to pull of a victory in the Nations Capital they’ll have to get back on defense and stop the Hoyas fast break offense, as well as limit their three point shots unlike what they did in their first meeting against the Hoyas shooting 4 from 16 from behind the arc.
After leaving Washington the Orange will travel back home to close out their 2010-11 season with last ranked in the Big East, DePaul. Facing the 7-18 Blue Demons this game will most likely be a preparation game for the tournament however it can’t be taken too lightly as the Demons do know how to come close to spoiling the party. However shut down freshman Cleveland Melvin and then the Orange shouldn’t have a problem.
While the panic button doesn’t need to be pushed just yet but if the Orange can pull of both home wins and at least one road win against the Wild Cats or the Hoyas, well it could be a long March.