UConn Analysis!

Big win for the 'Cuse today!!

This was a game that was a basic must win for the Orange with three tough games coming up to end the season. The game played out exactly like I thought it would. In the first half Dyson was on fire from behind the arc and forced the Orange to play man to man defense. The man to man D was again the difference (as it was in the game against USF). The Orange were able to slow down Dyson, will mainly Paul Harris getting the duty to stop him, and the rest of the Huskies couldn't make anything. On offense it was again a balanced attack led by the 20 points by D Nic. Harris had another solid game against UConn primarily due to the way UConn decided to play him. The Huskies are a straight up man to man team that gets in your face on every possession. Harris is the type of guy who can thrive when a man plays up on him because of his ability to get to the rim. If UConn was to play off him and dare him to shoot then he may not have been as successful. But, the bottom line is, Harris was able to get to the rim and hit his foul shots.

The big turning point of the game was in the second half and the Orange up by 11. UConn was able to go on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 4 at 59-55. Then, as he has done so many times this year, Nichols was able to step up and deliver! He hit a hard fadeaway jumper from the corner and was fouled. He made the free throw to make it a 7 point game again. The next time down the court he was able to hit another tough jumper to make it a 9 point game again and basically seal the deal for the Orange. After some tough possessions down the stretch in which the Orange made some terrible mistakes when trying to run down the clock, they were able to hit the free throws to move on to the Dunkin' Donuts Center to face Providence next week.

This game was won on the glass, where UConn killed the Orange the last time out. By hammering the offensive glass from the get go, Syracuse was able to get two...three...and even four shots on some possessions. Even though they were not able to turn a lot of these into points in the first half, they were able to wear down UConn and hit the big shots when they had to.

Now at 8-5 in the BE and in a log jam for fourth place, with WV...ND...and Marquette, the Orange can control their destiny. If they win out and ND loses just one game then they finish in fourth place and earn a first round bye! It's time to get excited again up on the hill as this team is finally realizing how to finish games!

GO CUSE!!