Venue/ Stadium: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Marquette (12-3) is coming off a loss where they blew a 17-point lead and lost to 9th ranked Georgetown and things get tougher in this game facing the top ranked Syracuse team (16-0) that is the 12th highest scoring teams in the nation and is at home.
Time/Date: 4 PM EST Saturday, January 7, 2012
NCAA Odds From: Bovada
Moneyline: OFF
Spread (ATS): syracuse -11
Over/Under: O/U 148
No 20 Marquette Golden Eagles vs. No. 1 Syracuse Orange Preview
Still, the Orange have only faced 1 ranked team this season in beating Florida in the beginning of December.
In their last games Syracuse beat Providence 87-73 while Marquette gave up a big lead and lost to Georgetown 73-70.
So far this season Syracuse is 11-4 ATS with an O/U record of 8-6-1 and Marquette is at 4-7-1 ATS with an O/U record of 7-5.
Syracuse is one of the deepest teams in the nation and their 2 leading scorers of Kris Joseph (13.9 ppg) and Dion Waiters (12.6 ppg) are each shooting over 36% from beyond the 3-point arc. In their win over Providence 6 Cuse’ players scored in double figures.
Marquette leading scorer Darius Johnson-Odom (17.9 ppg) has combined to score 42 points in his last 2 games, but he has really struggled with his shot in the last couple of games. 2nd leading scorer Jae Crowder (16.6 ppg), who is also the Golden Eagles leading rebounder, has also not shot the rock well as of late and these guys cannot struggle again facing an Orange team that ranks 11th in the nation in team FG%. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Orange play great D and are very athletic and Marquette has to hold onto the rock in this game. They had 16 turnovers in the loss to Georgetown.
The Golden Eagles were outscored 44-27 in the 2nd half against Georgetown and they cannot have a let down in this game or it could get ugly with all the scoring options the Orange have.
Syracuse may have a little revenge on their minds in this game, as they not only lost to Marquette in the regular season last year, but also in the 3rd round on the NCAA tournament to end their season.
Betting Trends
Marquette is 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 games, 1-4-1 ATS in their last 6 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record, and they have an Under record of 7-1 in their last 8 road games.
Syracuse is e 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games, 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record, and they have an Over record of 6-1 in their last 7 games.
Pick: Have to go with Syracuse to win and cover, as they are simply too deep and they will play good D against Johnson-Odom and Crowder.
