Hokies host Syracuse Feb 12 at 6 PM

The Hokies host the Syracuse Orange today at 6 PM. The game is on ESPN2. Hokies are 8 point favorites. O/U is 145. Both teams are on 4 game winning streaks. Syracuse beat Wake Forest and Louisville at home; neither game was close. They beat NC State and BC on the road; both games were with 10 points. We beat FSU and Pitt on the road and GA Tech and Pitt at home. In their last two games before starting the winning streak, Syracuse lost at Pitt and at Duke.

The Hokies will match up fairly well with Syracuse because their 6'11 starting center Jesse Edwards broke his wrist in the last game and will not play. He will probably be replaced by 6'10 Frank Anselem. Syracuse has only played 8 players in most games; so their bench will be short for this game.

#35 Buddy Boeheim 6'6 G Sr. 37.5 MPG: 19.1 PPG: 3.8 RPG: 3.4 APG: 1.9 TOPG

#11 Joseph Girard III 6'1 G Jr. 33.5 MPG: 13.6 PPG: 2.8 RPG: 4.5 APG: 2.9 TOPG

#0 Jimmy Boeheim 6'8 F Gr. 34.3 MPG: 13.5 PPG: 5.9 RPG: 1.4 APG: 1.2 TOPG

#21 Cole Swider 6'9 F Sr. 34.1 MPG: 13.2 PPG: 6.8 RPG: 1.4 APG: 1.5 TOPG

#5 Frank Anselem 6'10 C So. 10.3 MPG: 2.4 PPG: 2.5 RPG: 0.1 APG: 0.3 TOPG

#10 Symir Torrence 6'3 G Jr. 11.8 MPG: 2.3 PPG: 1.4 RPG: 2.7 APG: 0.9 TOPG

#13 Benny Williams 6'8 F Fr. 12.2 MPG: 1.7 PPG: 1.4 RPG: 0.3 APG: 0.7 TOPG

And just for info, this is what they lose with Edwards out:
#14 Jesse Edwards 6'11 C Jr. 27.8 MPG: 12 PPG: 6.5 RPG: 1 APG: 1.3 TOPG

Syracuse is almost as much of a three point team as the Hokies. The four remaining starters shoot 35%, 38%, 40% and 43% from three. The Hokies will have to be strong out to the arc tonight. Syracuse takes very good care of the ball only turning the ball over 7.5 times per game.

Syracuse plays almost exclusively zone defense; so if the Hokies are good with their spacing and ball movement, they should get some good looks from beyond the arc.

Here are the stats:

The little terrorist is raising hell; so I have to go walk the dog.

LET'S GO HOKIES!