Syracuse Basketball: Orange looks to defend homecourt against Louisville

Syracuse Basketball looks to get back-to-back wins this week, with the Louisville Cardinals coming to town.

Syracuse Basketball (11-11) is back at The Dome to take former Big East Conference rivals Louisville Cardinals (11-11) at 2 pm eastern time on ESPN2. The Orange coming into this game, off an 89-82 win against the NC State Wolfpack on Wednesday, looking to get back on track this season after hit-or-miss games the past few matchups they have had, with only nine games left in the season.

Players to Watch

Jesse Edwards and Cole Swider are going to be the main players to watch for the Syracuse Orange, after coming off a game where both players would score 19 points apiece. Swider would go a perfect four-for-four from the three-point arc against NC State and is looking to carry the performance over to the Louisville game. Edwards is going to be one of the main pieces for the Orange down the stretch and will be a factor in the paint on offense and defense.

Jimmy and Buddy Boeheim are looking to get going against Louisville, as last game they were putting points up as well, however, they looked like they were trying to do too much on the offensive end of the ball and just couldn’t get into a rhythm down the stretch. They both will need to get back on track and keep the Orange from being a tough situation on the end of the court.

Keys to the Game

Limit the number of turnovers – Syracuse had a total of 11 turnovers against NC State on Wednesday. The Orange will need to have better ball control and not allow the Cardinals to capitalize on the other end off the turnovers.

Hold the lead – Syracuse, at one point in the game against NC State, had an 11-point lead, but only won by seven points at the end of the game. Syracuse will need to get the lead over Louisville early, hold the lead into the 2nd half, and not allow Louisville to get into a rhythm towards the end.

Capitalize on defense – Louisville has seen the two-three zone defense of Syracuse before and has always had a game plan that attacks the zone head-on and works. Jim Boeheim will need to have the defense guard the paint, and not allow any easy buckets from the three-point arc.

Syracuse will need to come out firing in front of their hometown fans, and Louisville will need to stay focused while trying to ignore the fans in The Dome. It will be a close game again, but Syracuse will pull out an 82-75 victory over Louisville.