Syracuse and Louisville have identical overall records and similar Atlantic Coast Conference marks, but the teams have taken very different paths to get to this point in the season.
Syracuse is chasing its season-high third consecutive victory Saturday when the Orange host the Cardinals, whose four successive defeats mark their longest losing streak of the season.
The Orange (11-11, 5-6 ACC) are coming off Wednesday’s 89-82 victory at North Carolina State, which followed an impressive 20-point win against Wake Forest over the weekend. Against NC State, all five Syracuse starters scored in double figures, without a single point from their bench.
The Syracuse starting frontcourt of Jesse Edwards (19 points), Cole Swider (19) and Jimmy Boeheim (16) combined to shoot 22 of 27 from the floor. The Orange shot a season-best 59.3 percent from the floor and went 11 of 19 from 3-point range.
“We are playing our best offense of the year right now and all of our guys are contributing,” said coach Jim Boeheim, whose sons Buddy Boeheim (19.3) and Jimmy Boeheim (13.5) are the team’s two leading scorers.
Louisville (11-11, 5-7) has lost four in a row, most recently a 90-83 overtime setback against North Carolina on Tuesday. El Ellis scored 25 points and made five 3-pointers — both career highs — in a losing effort.
“He was phenomenal,” said Cardinals interim coach Mike Pegues, who took over for Chris Mack for the past two games and who signed a new contract this week as interim coach for the rest of the season. “El’s a guy that we got to keep the ball in his hands in the middle of the floor, especially when he gets hot.”
Louisville’s leading scorer and rebounder Malik Williams (10.0 points, 8.7 rebounds) is serving what Pegues called an indefinite suspension for failing to meet team standards at “different times throughout the year.” Williams missed the UNC game and did not make the trip to Syracuse, but Pegues said Friday, “there are still hopes that he will, at some point, rejoin the team.”
The Cardinals have nine other players who average between 4.8 and 9.7 points a game. In addition to the recent breakout game from Ennis, Matt Cross also stepped up against the Tar Heels with 13 points and 15 rebounds, his first career double-double.
This is the first meeting for these teams since Feb. 19, 2020, when Louisville walloped visiting Syracuse 90-66. A year earlier in Syracuse, the Orange won 69-49.
–Field Level Media
