Syracuse -12.5
I continue to believe that Syracuse is a top ten caliber team and maybe even a National Title contender with or without Eric Devendorf. On Saturday Syracuse came back to the court after finals and showed a bit of rust since not playing since December 3rd. Rather, then taking advantage of a Long Beach State team coming across the country the struggled until finally pulling away in the second half. Cleveland State has been up and down all year and when they are down, it is for the most part due to poor offense. Cleveland St is shooting just 41% forcing thier defense to step it up from whistle to whistle. However, Cleveland St's defense is not capable of keeping up with the athletes on this Syracuse team. The Vikings have no answer for Johnny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, Paul Harris, or Arinze Onuaku.
Cleveland St is a two man show with Norris Cole and J'Nathan Bulluck. Bulluck leads the team in points per game and rebounds per game but may run into some trouble trying to battle for a board down low with the 6'9-275 pound Onuaku. Bulluck is listed at 6'5 and 240 which makes even Harris a tough match up for a rebound.
The Vikings have played some solid teams this year. They lost to Washington by 15 behind a 31% shooting effort, in a 10 point loss to Kansas St they hit just 37.5%, in a 2 point loss to Butler they shot a pathetic 25% and in a 10 point loss to West Virginia they shot just 33%. All the while in those four games the Vikings totaled just 213 points, also known as 53.25 points per game.
Now if Cleveland St is going to struggle to score and are going to struggle to rebound just how are they going to stay with a top ten team that can run the floor and score in bunches. Not to mention Syracuse shoots 50% from the field and has put up big points at home all year long. I think Syracuse rolls in this one.
Syracuse 74, Cleveland St 55
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