by David Cassilo / @dcassilo
After losing seven straight games to No. 19 Louisville, the Orange were finally able to celebrate a win, squeaking by the Cardinals, 52-51.
No. 2 Syracuse scored the road victory without much of a contribution from its two senior starters. Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine combined for seven points and shot 2-for-13 from the field. It was sophomore forward C.J. Fair who picked up the slack, scoring a team-high 13 points.
It was Fair who capped off a 6-0 run for Syracuse to close the game. He hit a layup with 2:12 remaining. Neither team scored for the rest of the game.
Despite shooting 34.4 percent from the field and 1-for-15 from beyond the arc, Syracuse nabbed its 26th victory.
From the Courier-Journal:
“It was an unbelievable defensive struggle tonight,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said. “Both teams have difficult defenses to play against. … You can either give the defenses credit or say it was a bad offensive game. We’re going to look on the bright side and say it was a real defensive struggle.”
The Orange have now beaten No. 10 Georgetown, UConn and Louisville consecutively. The Cardinals will have another shot against the Orange when they travel to the Carrier Dome on March 3.
