Syracuse Basketball plays its 22nd game of the season versus Duke Saturday night. Inside The Loud House tells you how to watch and listen to the game.
Syracuse basketball is coming off a tough, last-second loss to Clemson on Tuesday and will need to refocus fast as they take on No. 9 ranked Duke Saturday in the Carrier Dome.
The Orange played well against the Tigers, but early foul trouble in the backline cost them the lead late in the game. Syracuse basketball fans are hoping the Orange come out ready to contend with one of the top teams in the nation and pull off a massive upset that may be pivotal to a berth in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year.
The Blue Devils, though lacking star Zion Williamson this season, are still a formidable team. They have players who can shoot the lights out in Vernon Carey Jr. and Tre Jones, and also have great role players in Cassius Stanley, Matthew Hurt, Alex O’Connell, and Jack White, among others. On any given night, any one of these players can make a huge impact. The Orange will need to play good defense if they want any chance at winning this game.
The Orange have been playing well in the last six games or so, especially on the road, but have struggled at home for some reason. This Syracuse basketball team needs to find a way to reverse that trend and shoot well in front of their hometown fans from the perimeter as well as inside to offset high-scoring Duke. The Orange know they won’t be able to totally contain Carey inside, especially if Bourama Sidibe gets into foul trouble, but as long as they can hold him at bay and force a lot of outside shots, which hopefully Duke will miss, then an upset may be achievable.
So what should we expect?
Well for one, we know Syracuse will need big games from Buddy Boeheim and Elijah Hughes against Duke. That will not be enough to beat them though. Therefore, we should expect a third or fourth guy to step up and score a bunch of points to keep the game close. My money would be on Marek Dolezaj, the guy who does all the small things right. The other possibility is Quincy Guerrier who has played incredibly well in recent games with more minutes.
If coach Jim Boeheim lets him play, I also see Howard Washington also having a significant impact both assisting the ball as well as defending the tough guards Duke has. He is a better matchup defensively against the Blue Devils than Joe Girard is, but the Orange know they’d be giving up a little offensively if they play him instead of Girard.
Girard has become a reliable scorer for the Orange and his clutch shots late have kept Syracuse in games when Hughes starts to tire. Hopefully when Boeheim plays Girard down the stretch that will be the difference in what may be a close game. After all, it has happened before:
So how can I watch or listen to the game?
The game will be shown nationally on ESPN Saturday, February 1st at 8:00 p.m., according to Cuse.com. You can also watch the game on the WatchESPN app or online. The good news is if you can’t make it to the game (in person), you can hear it on the radio.
As always, you can listen to the game 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. For the rest of the game info, you need to know check out the details below. Let’s Go Orange!
Game Info
Who’s Playing: Syracuse (13-8, 6-4 ACC) and Duke (17-3, 7-2 ACC)
Where: Carrier Dome
Gametime: Saturday, February 1st at 8:00 p.m.
TV Channel: ESPN
Online Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: 99.5 FM/105 FM (TK-99), WAER 88.3 FM, and Cuse.com
Up Next for Syracuse: Saturday, February 8th at 8:00 p.m. ET vs Wake Forest in the Carrier Dome