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Beat writers pick Syracuse to roll over St. John’s

Beat writers pick Syracuse to roll over St. John’s

Frank Howard will look to build on his 10-point outing against St. John's. Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

By The Daily Orange Sports Staff

Less than 48 hours after blowing out Eastern Michigan, Syracuse (7-4) will host St. John’s (5-7) in the Carrier Dome. SU is coming off arguably its best performance of the season, while the Red Storm have lost two back-to-back contests to Penn State and LIU Brooklyn.

Our beat writers explain below their selections for Wednesday night’s game.

Connor Grossman (7-4)
New York’s college team(s)
Syracuse 69, St. John’s 52

Syracuse is coming off a game against Eastern Michigan in which eight players reached double-digit point totals. No SU team has done that since the 1978-79 season. Even with an injured Tyler Lydon, the Orange have enough pieces to stitch together convincing wins against the Red Storm and Cornell. Atlantic Coast Conference play is less than two weeks away.

Paul Schwedelson (8-3)
Empire State of Mind
Syracuse 79, St. John’s 52

Syracuse blew out Eastern Michigan by 48 points on Monday night. The Eagles are ranked 112th by Kenpom.com. St. John’s is ranked 136th by Kenpom. The Orange should have no problem steamrolling the Red Storm en route to its eighth win of the year. Say all you want about SU’s weak nonconference resume, but at this point all Syracuse can do is win the games it’s supposed to until ACC play begins. The Orange will do that by dismantling a team that’s lost to LIU Brooklyn and Delaware State.

Matt Schneidman (8-3)
Deja phew!
Syracuse 85, St. John’s 66

This one won’t be like last year, let’s get that out of the way. There’s no way Syracuse loses to St. John’s again. Not this Red Storm team, which has lost to LIU Brooklyn and Delaware State. The Orange’s offense is trending upward right now after putting the most players in double figures in a single game since 1979. Even if SU is without Tyler Lydon, whether it be for precautionary purposes or not, Syracuse should have no problem stuffing Chris Mullin’s team deeper into the crater of the Big East it’s already buried in.

Published on December 20, 2016 at 6:43 pm

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