The Syracuse Orange (18-8 overall, 8-5 ACC) head to Kentucky on Wednesday to face the Louisville Cardinals (19-6, 8-4). This game is marred by the fact that the Cardinals will not be eligible for the NCAA tournament after the school decided to self-impose a ban on the team (sound familiar anyone?).
Who’s Hot- Tyler Lydon (and his mustache)
The freshman is starting to come on after a disappointing mid-year stretch. Lydon has posted double-digit points in four of his last five games, including a career-high 20 points against Boston College. The diaper-dandy’s unique offensive game will make him a key cog down the stretch for the Orange (and his mustache is A+ right now).
“We should try to get him every time if we can in transition,” SU coach Jim Boeheim said after the game against Boston College. “It’s a pretty good offensive play, throw the 6’10 guy the ball and let him shoot it.”
Who’s Not- DaJuan Coleman
After it looked like the sophomore had finally started to make strides, he played only 12 minutes against Boston College after picking up two fouls. Coleman did not attempt a shot in the game and only pulled down three rebounds.
Louisville Playing With Nothing to Lose?
Around here, people know what it is like to have their team banished from the tournament. Make no mistake about it, it is no fun at all. However, the one advantage to this is that teams can play angry and loose, with nothing to lose. The Cardinals are a talented, well-coached team who now have every reason to be playing angry and with nothing to lose.
Key Matchup- Scoring off of turnovers
After the Virginia game on January 24th, the Orange failed to score double-digit points off of turnovers for its next three games. However, in the Orange’s last two games, they scored 28 and 23 points, respectively, off of turnovers. The Cardinals turn the ball over 11.8 times per game (the same amount as the Orange). The Orange will need to capitalize on the Cardinals’ turnovers if they want to score a big-time road upset.