Syracuse (10-2) plays its first game back after its overtime upset loss to St. Bonaventure against Eastern Michigan (8-3) in the Carrier Dome to close out nonconference play on Wednesday night. Syracuse starts Athletic Coast Conference play on Sunday at the Carrier Dome against Virginia Tech. First though, the Eagles, which have won three of four entering Wednesday, come to Syracuse coached by former SU assistant Rob Murphy.

Here’s what you need to know about the team from Ypsilanti.

All-time series: Syracuse leads, 4-1

Last time they played: Last season, the Orange torched the Eagles, 105-57, in its highest offensive output of the season, which was also two days before the crushing, 33-point loss to St. John’s. Syracuse had eight scorers in double figures, and it was the most lopsided of Murphy’s four losses in the Dome. Syracuse guard Tyus Battle had a game-high 18, which Syracuse probably hopes bodes well for the sophomore to break out of his mini holiday slump.

The Eastern Michigan report: The Eagles’ biggest strength is on the defensive end of the floor, where Murphy mixes man and zone schemes. EMU nabs steals at the nation’s 13th-best rate and blocks shots at the 29th-best.

Senior shooting guard Tim Bond leads the Eagles in that department as one of the nation’s best pickpockets (4.7 steal percentage), and he lets the three-headed monster of Elijah Minnie (power forward), James Thompson IV (center) and Paul Jackson (point guard) lead the way in scoring. All juniors, each average at least 17 points per game.

Thompson, the 6-foot-10, 240-pound big man, is one of the most efficient scorers in the nation as he picks up his buckets on a 67.1 true-shooting percentage inside, according to Kenpom.com. He’s had nine double-doubles in 11 contests and he’s averaging 17.7 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. He’ll be on the floor almost all night — he plays about 87 percent of the Eagle’s minutes at center — and his athleticism and offensive game should test SU inside.

How Syracuse beats the Eagles: Make shots. This, of course, dictates every basketball game, but Syracuse is coming off its worst shooting percentage of the season when it made 18 shots on 60 attempts against the Bonnies (30 percent). The Orange put itself in position to win with a late Battle drive, and Oshae Brissett missed a subsequent put-back, but the shooting woes put Syracuse in that tenuous position. Furthermore, its poor 3-point shooting (15.8 percent against the Bonnies, 29.8 overall) hadn’t doomed the Orange until Friday. Syracuse needs to get back in an offensive rhythm and win a game it should heading into ACC play.

Stat to know: 7-for-26 (26.9 percent)

Battle has only made seven of his last 26 shots. Syracuse’s leader and catalyst has assumed the ACC’s most intensive workload in the nonconference, averaging 36.9 minutes per game, and he’s struggled in the Orange’s last two games, scoring 13 against Buffalo (on 4-for-8 shooting) and 11 against St. Bonaventure (on 3-for-18). For an SU team that struggles to score without him, Battle knows he needs to break out of his mini-slump. After St. Bonaventure, he said he wasn’t worried, and against the Eagles, he should lead the Orange into conference play while being able to get a little bit of rest late in the game.

Kenpom odds: Kenpom gives Syracuse an 83 percent chance to win.

Player to watch: Paul Jackson, point guard, No. 3

Other than Thompson, the Eagles’ biggest weapon is Jackson, the 6-foot-2, 175-pound transfer from Eastern Kentucky who is playing his first year in Ypsilanti. When he’s on the floor, Jackson takes nearly one-third of the team’s shots and dishes out nearly one-third of the team’s assists. He’ll be the one probing Syracuse’s 2-3 zone to try and find any weakness against the Orange on Wednesday night.

 

Published on December 27, 2017 at 4:21 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR