A quick take on Syracuse’s 58-49 win against Louisville:
WHAT HAPPENED: Syracuse trailed 15-9 with 11:46 left in the first half after Chane Behanan made a jumper. From there, the Orange would go on a 17-1 run with seven of those points coming from James Southerland. SU went into halftime up 26-19 and took a commanding 15 point lead after Brandon Triche went on a personal 8-0 run out of the break. The lead would balloon to 19 points before the Orange went scoreless from the 8:39 mark to 2:32 left as the Cardinals closed to within 50-40. But Triche hit four consecutive free throws to stop the run, and Syracuse put the game away from there. The Orange improved to 30-1 on the season, sending a monstrous crowd of 33,205 (fifth largest in Dome history) home happy.
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» Syracuse playing for history
ANALYSIS: The Orange won this game with its defense. Louisville shot just 32.8 percent from the field and was 2-for-21 (9.5 percent) from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, SU got out in transition, with 17 fastbreak points, while shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 8-for-20 from downtown. Still, SU committed an uncharacteristically high 15 turnovers, for a -1 margin, and was outrebounded 40-32.
HERO: In his final game at the Carrier Dome, Kris Joseph had 11 points and four rebounds. Brandon Triche had a game-high 18 points, while Dion Waiters chipped in 13. Behanan led the Cardinals with 10 points.
ZERO: Gorgui Dieng was just 3-for-13 fromthe field for six points, but he did have 12 rebounds. Scoop Jardine didn’t score in his final game at home, missing all four of his shots.
WHAT’S NEXT: Syracuse, the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament, has a double-bye into the quarterfinals, and will play at noon at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
