Providence vs. Syracuse Feb. 20 Free Pick
The red-hot Providence Friars make the trip to Central New York to meet Syracuse. The Orang look to keep pace with Marquette, who knocked off Seton Hall on Tuesday to take a half-game lead in the Big East. The Friars ride the wave of a four game winning streak into the Carrier Dome. Vegas and off-shore oddsmakers have seemed to agree on a consensus opening line for this game at 12.5 with a total of 136.
Free Pick
Even with Sidiki Johnson never panning out this year in the front court, the Providence Friars have found just enough depth to find mid-late season success in the Big East. Winners of four straight (@Villanova, Cincinnati, @South Florida and Notre Dame), the Friars will look to avenge a blowout at the hands of the Orange when they made the treck last season. Providence also lost by six earlier this year on their home floor to a Syracuse team that essentially played a five-man rotation (Baye Keita got 9 minutes of floor time).
The thing with Providence is that they’ve always had scorers, and still do. Council, Cotton and Dunn are about as potent as a backcourt as there is – believe it or not. From a pure scoring ability, the trio can all create off of the dribble and hit open perimeter looks. The offensive ability of these three plus Henton making things happen from the middle of the zone gives Providence a nice blueprint against the zone.The achilles heel for the Friars the last year or two has been their lack of bigs. Kadeem Batts is an absolute gamer, but he hasn’t been able to take on front lines that rotate three or four bodies – nor should he be expected to. LaDontae Henton isn’t exactly the answer in terms of physicality, but he has shown huge improvements since last year. Lee Goldsbrough has provided productive minutes as of late. He will be important against a Syracuse team that features tons of size even without DaJuan Coleman.
Speaking of the home team, Syracuse comes home after splitting a two-game road trip (loss at UConn, win at Seton Hall). The Orange are in a tough let-down spot with Georgetown (and a new Carrier Dome record crowd) on their sights. Jim Boeheim will be sure stress the importance of this game, and what Providence has done of late may actually work in Syracuse’s favor from a focus standpoint. As mentioned before, Coleman will still be out with the knee recovering, but Christmas, Grant, Southerland, Fair and Keita all have size that really only Batts and Henton (at times) can matchup with. Their ability to get offensive rebounds and finish gives Syracuse a distinct edge in the paint. While Southerland is an outstanding catch-and-shoot guy, none of the Orange’s bigs have the ability to get their own shot. That duty is essentially all on the backcourt where Carter-Williams and Triche possess the only scoring-ability Syracuse has. That being said, the backcourt is one of the best in the nation and the bigs do have enough dominant athletic ability to find a way to get buckets.
This game is an interesting one as Providence tries to stay hot and Syracuse looks to dodge a let-down just three days before Georgetown. Looking at the over isn’t a bad idea but the points with Providence poses more value. Syracuse has had trouble out of the gates this season and I question the Friars’ ability to hang with Cuse’s physicality and size for 40 minutes in the Dome. The first 20 minutes could prove to be a problem for Syracuse. Providence should hang for a bit and keep it close at halftime and, if nothing else, should have a chance at back-dooring in the last couple minutes.
Free Pick: Providence First Half +7