Syracuse Orange at Connecticut Huskies, XL Center, Hartford, CT
Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 7:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN
Opening Line: UConn -4.5
Current Line: UConn -3
Opening Total: 138.5
Current Total: 139.5
Money Line: UConn -150 / Syracuse +130
The 17th-ranked Syracuse Orange (18-4, 5-4 Big East) have never lost five straight games under head coach Jim Boeheim and will try to avoid that scenario on Wednesday night when they visit the sixth-ranked Connecticut Huskies (17-3, 5-3). The Orange have not dropped five in a row since 1969 due mostly to poor defense while the Huskies (-3) will look to rebound from a 79-78 double-overtime home loss to Louisville on Saturday.
UConn had a six-game winning streak snapped after falling to the Cardinals with leading scorer Kemba Walker continuing to struggle with his shooting. Walker was coming off a season-low 14 points in a 76-68 victory at Marquette on 5 of 16 shooting and did not fare much better against Louisville, making 7 of 23 shots. In fact, he is shooting just 32 percent from the field (24 of 74) in the last four games since connecting on 10 of 17 in an 82-62 rout of DePaul on January 15.
If Walker is going to break out of his shooting slump, there would seem to be no better team to do it against than Syracuse. The Orange have surrendered an average of nearly 81 points on 51 percent shooting (almost 48 percent from 3-point range) during their current four-game skid. They did manage to shoot the ball much better (57 percent) in a 76-70 loss at Marquette on Saturday but still failed to register a win. In the previous three games, Syracuse shot only 39 percent from the field.
The Orange did make a valiant comeback effort against the Golden Eagles though after giving up a season-high 42 points in the first half. They managed to tie the game late only to have Marquette nail buzzer-beating shots when the shot clock was running down on three different occasions to quell the rally attempt. Leading scorer Kris Joseph scored a team-high 18 points for Syracuse while Scoop Jardine added 13 points and a career-high 13 assists.
Connecticut has won the last seven meetings with the Orange at home, including a 63-49 victory in the most recent game between the teams there in 2009. The epic six-overtime game won by Syracuse 127-117 in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament took place a month later while the latest meeting was also won the Orange last year in the Carrier Dome, 72-67. The Huskies have covered three of the last four meetings with the UNDER going 3-1 in those games. The UNDER is also 5-1 in the last six games overall for UConn while the OVER has cashed in three of the past four overall for Syracuse.
Now that you have read this Big East college basketball betting preview featuring UConn & Syracuse, check out the NCAA basketball odds on this and all the games to compare the best lines at multiple sportsbooks.
