Tigers Looking for Resume Win Against #7 Syracuse

Written by Brooks Hansen On January - 5 - 2010Email Author

Where: The Carrier Dome – Syracuse, NY

When: Wednesday, January 6th at 6pm CST

Television: ESPN2

With an average player standing at almost 6′7″, the Syracuse Orange present a tall challenge for the University of Memphis as the Tigers travel to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY for a nationally televised 6pm CST matchup. Coming off of their first loss of the season against Pittsburgh this past Saturday, the Orange now sit at 13-1 overall and are ranked the #7 team in the country.

“This is a great challenge for us,” Memphis head coach Josh Pastner said. ”This is a very good basketball team. They’ve got good players. Wesley Johnson is a legit lottery pick. They are big inside. They’re athletic. They keep things simple. It’s nothing really complicated. Syracuse has good players. They have legit talent.”

Syracuse is the top 2-point field goal shooting team in the nation, currently hitting 60.2% of their attempts inside the arc. Its accuracy could receive a major test for the second game in a row. The Tigers guard the three at a high level and continue to produce steals and blocks at a high rate on the defensive end of the floor.

On the defensive side of the ball, Syracuse is very active in pursuing the ball and blocking shots while in their matchup 2-3 zone. Averaging a blocked shot on 20.4% of opponents possessions and a steal on 16.8% of the same, the Orange will clog the lane and extend their zone to force Memphis into tough passing situations and bad shots.

“With Syracuse it is hard to simulate their type of players. It really just comes down to us playing them,” Pastner said. ”But hey, on the other hand, they still gotta guard us and play us. We’ve got a good team as well with good players.”

Against the Panthers, Syracuse shot 42.4 percent from the field on 28 of 66 shooting and was 1 of 13 on 3-pointers, which was well below their season average of 54.7 percent from the field. Additionally, the Orange had only 12 assists — nearly 10 below their season average. In the second half, Syracuse got into foul trouble as the Panthers repeatedly crashed the Orange’s 2/3 zone defense.

Prior to their game against Pittsburgh, the Orange opened up Big East play by beating Seton Hall 80-73, a game in which they limited the Pirates to 29.0 percent shooting in the second half in order to pull away.

Important Factors

Josh Pastner on Rebounding – “It comes down to us having to rebound the ball. We’ve got to correct it in a hurry. It’s gotta happen on the floor.”

Doneal Mack on Attacking Syracuse’s Zone – “I think the main thing is if we work from the inside out and attack it, we will be fine.”

Keys

When Memphis limits opponents’ offensive rebounds, the Tigers allow a very meager FG%. With their front-line standing at 6′7″, 6′9″ and 6′9″, the Tigers must crash the boards in the same way they did against Kansas when they allowed a very respectable 36.7 offensive-rebounding percentage. Memphis’ other two losses this season have been a result of opponents snagging a high percentage of offensive rebounds (61.9% against UMASS and 47.8% against Tennessee).

This may sound like a “thank you, Captain Obvious” statement, but the other key to this game is whether or not the Tigers shoot well. With no other factors having a high correlation to the Tigers field goal percentage, it is reasonable to conclude that this team is simply a “Jekyl-and-Hyde”
team on the offensive end. They either shoot well or do not. There is no contributing statistical factor. Not pace. Not offensive rebounding. Not the rate at which they turn the ball over. None. Some nights they will simply knock down open jumpers, other nights they will not.

Injury Notes

Josh Pastner on DJ Stephens – “He’ll be ok. The MRI was negative, which is a positive.”

Stephens will be available to play if needed.

Position	Memphis	Syracuse
Prime matchup: Small forward	20-Doneal Mack Sr., 6-5, 181 With the Tigers needing to use Witherspoon at the four due to Syracuse’s bigs, Mack will have a tough matchup against Johnson, giving up two inches and 20+ pounds.	4-Wes Johnson Jr., 6-7, 205 Johnson does everything for the Orange. He averages 17ppg, 8 rpg and shoots 50% from three. He averages close to 12 shots per game, so expect to see the ball in his hands a lot.
Point guard	5-Willie Kemp Sr., 6-2, 184 The senior guard has been consistent. Last season he scored zero points in seven minutes against the Orange. Can he go out with a bang?	25-Brandon Triche Fr., 6-4, 198 The freshman has struggled in his two Big East games so far. Can he bounce back?
Shooting guard	15-Elliot Williams Soph., 6-4, 180 A left-handed shooter. A really good defender on the perimeter. Struggled from three in the last two games and needs to rebound quickly.	1-Andy Rautins Sr., 6-4, 195 Rautins went 1-6 from three against Pitt but is shooting 41% for the season. The Orange needs him to be a steadying influence in the backcourt.
Power forward	11-Wesley Witherspoon So., 6-9, 210 Pitt was able to matchup 6′5″ Nasir Robinson against Jackson. Robinson is tough as nails and a good defender. Can Wesley Witherspoon be Memphis’ Nasir Robinson?	00-Rick Jackson Jr., 6-9, 240 Jackson has struggled offensively in the Orange’s last two contests, scoring only four point each game. In spite of this, he still managed to pull down 8rpg in those two contests.
Center	1-Pierre Henderson-Niles Sr., 6-8, 280 Must come out strong against Onuaku and do his job rebounding the ball. He will not be asked to score, but will focus more heavily on defending the paint and rebounding when given the opportunity.	21-Arinze Onuaku Sr., 6-9, 261 Onuaku is still trying to overcoming a recent quad injury, fouling out against Pittsburgh. Prior to the game against Pitt, Onuaku made his presence known against Seton Hall. He scored 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting.

PLAYER	POS	PTS	REB	AST
Wesley Johnson	F	17.1	8.8	2.2
Brandon Triche	G	10.6	1.7	2.9
Kris Joseph	F	10.4	5.6	1.8
Arinze Onuaku	C	10.2	3.7	0.6
Rick Jackson	F	9.9	7.3	1.6
Andy Rautins	G	9.5	2.8	5.1
Scoop Jardine	G	8.6	1.9	5.4
Mookie Jones	F	6.7	1.8	0.8
James Southerland	F	4.1	1.7	0.3
DaShonte Riley	F	2.1	2.2	0.7
Nick Resavy	G	0.3	0.3	0.2
Griffin Hoffman	G	0.3	0.3	0.0
Brandon Reese	G	0.3	0.6	0.3
Matt Lyde-Cajuste	F	0.3	1.3	0.0
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