WVU Mountaineer Sports: Basketball | Football | News |Men’s Basketball: WVU vs. Syracuse Preview

Men’s Basketball: WVU vs. Syracuse Preview

For a while last Saturday afternoon, it looked as though a ranked West Virginia team would be traveling to Syracuse to face the top-ranked team in the country this weekend. That won't be the case.

Syracuse lost to Notre Dame that night, and when the new polls were released Monday morning, the Mountaineers had not cracked the top 25. Since then, Syracuse has bounced back with a win over Cincinnati. On Wednesday night, West Virginia went into New York City and was blown out by St. John's.

To get back on track, WVU (15-6, 5-3) will face one of its toughest tests of the season in the Carrier Dome against #4 Syracuse (21-1, 8-1).

To say the least, Syracuse hasn't been a fun place to visit for West Virginia over the years. The Orange hasn't lost at home to the Mountaineers since 1996, giving them a nine-game winning streak against them at home. Overall, Syracuse is 21-3 against West Virginia in home games.

It will be tough to reverse that trend on Saturday, because this is a Syracuse team that could be national championship contenders.

Usually, when you're looking ahead to the team you'll be playing, you single out that team's star player and talk about him. The Orange doesn't really have that standout player, though. Instead, this is a lineup full of players that are capable of beating you.

Kris Joseph does lead the team with 13.7 points, but Dion Waiters is the only other player on the team with at least ten points, scoring 12.5.

Brandon Triche (9.9), Scoop Jardine (8.5), C.J. Fair (8.4), and James Southerland (7.9) are also scoring threats for the Orange. Syracuse will be without another player that sees significant playing time in Fab Melo. Melo has missed the past two games with an academic issue and is expected to be out again when his team takes the court on Saturday.

This group of players may not have a dominant player that is likely to win the Big East Player of the Year award, but it has still put Syracuse at the top of the Big East with 78 points per game. And then, there is the 2-3 zone that the Orange is famous for running.

The defense is fourth in the Big East, giving up just 60.3 points per game, and it seems to always give West Virginia offenses fits.

The Mountaineers had trouble solving the defense St. John's threw at them Wednesday night, and it won't get any easier against the Orange. How the team's freshmen respond to their first time facing this defense will go a long way in deciding this game.

The team has been inconsistent for most of the season, which is certainly a bad thing. But it does mean that after a performance like the other night, the Mountaineers are capable of bouncing back and playing against Syracuse like they did, say, Baylor.

There has been one part of this team that has been the model of consistency, and that of course is Kevin Jones. There's not much else the senior could do at this point in the season to be the front-runner for the conference player of the year. Not only does he average a double-double, but Jones is the conference's leading scorer (20.9) and rebounder (11.6), and he is the only player in the Big East to average 20 points.

He's scored at least 20 points in six consecutive games, and has 14 double-doubles in 21 games. It's almost a given that Jones will give you his production. What WVU needs is for Truck Bryant to get out of his mini-slump and find his touch against Syracuse.

After a 22-point performance against Marshall, Bryant had one of the worst shooting games of his career against Cincinnati. He also had trouble finding success early against St. John's. The senior averages 17.4 points per game, and when he's able to put up big numbers, the Mountaineers are tough to beat.

Just about everything will have to go right for Bob Huggins and his young team if they plan on knocking off Syracuse. The Carrier Dome hasn't been kind to the Mountaineers over the years, but Saturday will give WVU an opportunity to earn a huge win in Big East play.

The game will tip at 1 p.m. and will be on ESPNU.