Syracuse Basketball plays its 16th game of the year against Virginia Saturday afternoon. Inside The Loud House tells you how you can watch and listen to the game.
The Syracuse basketball team now sits at 8-7 and is desperation mood after a loss to Virginia Tech earlier this week. In the thick of the ACC conference schedule, Syracuse knows wins will not be easy to come by. The road does not get easier with a road trip to No. 18 Virginia on Saturday afternoon.
In their first meeting of the season it was a dismal affair and Syracuse could not shoot well at all. Most of that is probably due to Virginia’s stellar defense. The Cavaliers commonly have held teams under 50 points this year, in fact holding teams to just 47.6 points on average, according to ESPN.com, and Syracuse was one of those victims. That will need to change if Syracuse wants to improve its record and score an upset on the road.
So what should we expect?
Well for starters we should expect a low scoring game. Even though Syracuse basketball has scored much better in recent games, and way better than how they started the year versus Virginia the first time, against Virginia that is unlikely. The Orange must find a way to spread the offense out and open up lanes to drive so they’re not chucking up a bunch of threes all afternoon.
The Orange will need to lean on Elijah Hughes, Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard to play well beyond the arc and make a couple of threes as well so that Virginia has to respect the perimeter. If they can do that, that will open the inside for scoring for a surging Quincy Guerrier.
The Orange will also need the bench unit of Howard Washington, Jesse Edwards, and possibly even Brycen Goodine to really step up and give the starters some rest in this one. This will be a physical and fatiguing game which means the starters will need a spell now and then in this game.
If the second unit can come in and play well and not stall the offense and make stops the Orange may have a chance. Fact is: the Orange starters have been playing far too many minutes lately with many playing close to 40 minutes a night because coach Jim Boeheim is scared the offense will struggle, and he may be right, but letting the starters play too much tires them and thus creates shorter shots, so they really do need some rest. Hopefully the Orange second unit proves to coach Boeheim they deserve the minutes because having them play more would be huge in ACC play.
So how can I watch or listen to the game?
The game will be shown nationally on ESPN, Saturday, January 11th at 4:00 p.m. ET and can also be seen on the WatchESPN app, according to ESPN.com. The good news if you can’t make it to the game (in person) or watch it online/through the app is that the Orange Basketball game can also be heard on the radio.
You can listen in on Syracuse’s IMG Sports Network at TK 99.5/105 FM and on Cuse.com under the listen tab on the Syracuse Basketball schedule page, according to Cuse.com. For the rest of the game info you need to know check out the details, per Cuse.com below. Let’s Go Orange!
Game Info
Who’s Playing: Syracuse and No. 18 Virginia
Where: John Paul Jones Arena
Gametime: Saturday, January 11th at 4:00 p.m. ET
TV Channel: ESPN
Online Stream: Watch ESPN app
Radio: 99.5 FM/105 FM (TK-99), WAER 88.3 FM, and Cuse.com
Up Next for Syracuse: Wednesday, January 15th at 6:30 p.m. ET vs Boston College