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Teams: Syracuse Orange (6-2, 1-1) vs. Georgetown Hoyas (3-7, 1-5)
Day & Time: Saturday, January 9, 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. ET
Location: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Line: Syracuse -9.5
TV/Streaming: ESPN2 ESPN, WatchESPN
Radio: Cuse.com, TK 99/105, WAER 88.3
Georgetown Blog: Casual Hoya
Rivalry: 51-44, Syracuse
Current Streak: 1, Georgetown.
First Meeting: The rivalry started well in favor of Syracuse back on February 15, 1930 with the Orange winning 40-18. Ev Katz led all scorers with 14 points.
Last Meeting: Despite a red-hot Buddy Boeheim sinking seven threes for 25 points, foul trouble meant that Georgetown had fun in the paint against the Syracuse zone on December 14, 2019. Mac McClung and Omer Yurtseven took advantage of that with 45 points between the two as the Hoyas won 89-79.
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Head Coaches: Syracuse - Jim Boeheim (45th year, 1,071-401) | Georgetown - Patrick Ewing (fourth year, 52-53)
Coach Bio: Ewing is one of the more decorated players in collegiate basketball history, not just in Georgetown history. The Jamaica native was named a consensus first-team All-American three years in a row and named the National College Player of the Year in 1985. The highlight of Ewing’s collegiate career was a NCAA national championship with the Hoyas in 1984. His success with Georgetown in college led him to the first overall pick by the New York Knicks in the 1985 draft. Ewing went on to play 15 years with the Knicks and a year with the Seattle Supersonics and the Orlando Magic in the NBA. He would be named an all-star 11 times and his 33 jersey is retired by the Knicks.
Ewing’s coaching career started right after his retirement from the NBA as he joined the Washington Wizards as an assistant. He took assistant jobs with the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and Charlotte Hornets before returning to his alma mater to take the Georgetown head coaching job. The Hoyas have yet to finish with a winning record in conference play under Ewing.
Last Year: Georgetown picked up notable ranked wins over No. 22 Texas, No. 25 Creighton, and No. 19 Butler in the 2019-20 season. However, the Hoyas lost its last seven games of the season, including a first round exit in the Big East tournament to St. John’s, to finish with a 15-17 record and a dismal 5-13 conference record.
Last Game: Much like Syracuse, Georgetown blew a second-half lead against Butler on Wednesday with the Hoyas going cold from the floor, going 2-19 in the final nine minutes and 40 seconds of the game. The Bulldogs took advantage and defeated the Hoyas 63-55.
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“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: The good news for Syracuse fans is that McClung and Yurtseven are no longer on the Georgetown roster. However, the Hoyas do have Qudus Wahab at their disposal, who’s averaging 12.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. If the Orange don’t have Bourama Sidibe available, it becomes imperative that the SU frontcourt stays out of foul trouble.
If Syracuse Wins: We breathe a sigh of relief that the Pittsburgh loss was just a fluke.
If Syracuse Loses: At least lacrosse starts soon, right?
Fun Fact: Georgetown is playing its home games this season at McDonough Arena, the old home court of the Hoyas. So far the Hoyas have played seven games at McDonough, the most games Georgetown has played there since the 1980-81 season. That was the last year that the Hoyas used McDonough as their full-time home court.