The No. 3 Syracuse Orange put their nine-game winning streak on the line this Saturday, as the George Washington Colonials come to the Carrier Dome for a non-conference tussle.
George Washington is an even 4-4 on the young season, which is certainly a disappointment to coach Mike Lonergan as his team opened with a 4-1 record. Three straight losses here in the month of December have fans wondering if the Colonials will be able to compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference this year. Following this clash, GW returns home for four in a row, and the league slate gets underway at St. Bonaventure on January 4, 2012.
Syracuse has won seven of the previous eight meetings with George Washington, but it was the Colonials who claimed their lone win in the last encounter, that being a 111-104 decision on November 16, 1994.
During its recent three-game slide, George Washington has averaged just 57 ppg, dropping its season scoring average to 63.2 ppg. The Colonials have actually performed pretty well considering, as they are shooting 41.5 percent from three-point range, while limiting the opposition to 64.9 ppg on just 39.8 percent overall field goal efficiency. The team has just one double-digit scorer coming into this contest, as Tony Taylor has turned his 50 percent showing from beyond the arc into 14.1 ppg. He is also the team's primary playmaker with 4.9 apg. Three others are netting at least 8.8 ppg, and Lasan Kromah has been effective in producing 9.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. David Pellom came off the bench to score 19 points and grab six rebounds, but the Colonials made good on only 37.9 percent of their total shots and lost the battle on the boards (42-29) as they dropped a 65-55 decision to Loyola- Maryland on Wednesday night. Kromah was the only starter to reach double figures, but he missed nine of his 13 field goal attempts in tallying a mere 11 points.
It's Dion Waiters birthday so expect a big game and post-game retweetfest from him. Of course, if you follow him on Twitter, you already know that.
Leave your pre-, in- and post-game comments below.
G'ORANGE!