After its win over Iona on Saturday, No. 5 Syracuse (11-0) will get no rest as Morgan State (4-4) comes to town for a 7 p.m. matchup in the Carrier Dome. It is part of three games in five days for the Orange.

The Bears have won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference two seasons in a row, making two consecutive NCAA Tournament trips in the process. And in his postgame press conference Saturday, SU head coach Jim Boeheim stressed the importance of not taking the Bears lightly, using recent nonconference slip-ups of Tennessee, Illinois and UCLA as examples. 

‘The bottom line is it doesn’t matter who you play,’ Boeheim said. ‘There are a lot of good teams, a lot of good basketball players.’

Here’s a look at how SU matches up with Morgan State:

POINT GUARD

Scoop Jardine

6-2, 190, JR.

13.0 PPG, 6.2 APG

Larry Bastfield

5-11, 185, JR.

3.9 PPG, 3.4 APG

Jardine is on a streak of four straight games with double figures. He has shot the ball better in the last three contests.

SHOOTING GUARD

Brandon Triche

6-4, 205, SO.

9.1 PPG, 3.5 APG

Aric Brooks

6-6, 210, JR.

9.6 PPG, 5.6 RPG

Morgan State is the best matchup size-wise of the weaker nonconference opponents SU has faced. But Triche seems to be hitting his stride in the past two games.

SMALL FORWARD

Kris Joseph

6-7, 210, JR.

13.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG

DeWayne Jackson

6-8, 210, SO.

15.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG

Jackson has had outbursts of 31 and 24 points this season. He’ll be a tough matchup for Joseph, who just had second 20-plus-point game of the season against Iona.

POWER FORWARD

Rick Jackson

6-9 240, SR.

13.5 PPG, 12.1 RPG

Kevin Thompson

6-9 240, JR.

14.0 PPG, 9.4 RPG

For the second straight game, Jackson will face the opposing team’s best player. In this case, he matches up against a player with similar size and abilities. Thompson can score and rebound inside, and should play a key role in this game.

CENTER

Fab Melo

7-0 244, FR.

2.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG

Rodney Stokes

6-10 225, JR.

5.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG

Just days after only playing only five minutes against Iona, Melo will likely see limited action again due to a sore Achilles tendon. But regardless of who is playing for SU, Stokes is likely to struggle against Melo and Baye Moussa Keita inside.

COACHES

Jim Boeheim

840-293, 34 seasons

Todd Bozeman

149-89, 8 seasons

Bozeman led California to the Sweet 16 back in 1993, and has led Morgan State to conference championships and the NCAA Tournament each of the last two seasons. Boeheim, on the other hand, continues to climb the NCAA’s chart in all-time coaching victories.

 

FREE THROWS

• For Morgan State, Monday’s game will be the first of two consecutive against Big East opponents. The Bears will travel to take on Louisville next Monday.

• Morgan State forward Kevin Thompson was fourth in the nation with 11.9 rebounds per game last season.

 

STAT TO KNOW

In the last five games, Dion Waiters has averaged 11.5 points off the bench and scored in double figures four times.

 

BIG NUMBER: 59.3

The percentage Syracuse shot in its 83-77 win over Iona Saturday, its best mark of the season thus far.

 

FORTUNE COOKIE: BEAR-ly a contest

 

BEAT WRITER PREDICTIONS

Andrew L John

Syracuse 82, Morgan State 67

Though it can’t seem to get motivated in these type of games, SU survives again.

Brett LoGiurato

Syracuse 79, Morgan State 58

Rick Jackson vs. Kevin Thompson will be an interesting matchup to watch in this one. But SU prevails easily.

Published on December 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm