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St. Francis, NY-Syracuse Preview

Dec 13, 2009 - 4:45 PM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

St. Francis (NY) (3-5) at Syracuse (9-0), 1:00 p.m. EDT

After taking care of another ranked opponent, Syracuse will try to avoid a letdown in its next contest.

The surging seventh-ranked Orange look to remain undefeated Sunday when they host St. Francis, N.Y.

Syracuse (9-0) proved once again its early success is no fluke after pulling away for an 85-73 win over No. 10 Florida in Tampa on Thursday for its third win over a ranked school.

Junior Rick Jackson had a career-high 21 points with 11 rebounds, Andy Rautins had 18 points and junior Wes Johnson finished with 17 and 10 boards as the Orange used a 12-4 closing run to win by their smallest margin of the season.

Syracuse also defeated then-No. 13 California by 22 and then-No. 6 and defending NCAA tournament champion North Carolina by 16 on consecutive nights to win the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden.

"With all the problems you can have in the world, we don't have a lot right now," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "We'll probably encounter some problems. "But right now, we don't have a lot."

The Orange likely won't over the next 10 days as they try for the school's best start since the 1999-2000 squad opened with 19 straight victories. The Orange face a three-game home stretch of winnable games starting Sunday then followed by games against St. Bonaventure next Saturday and Oakland, Mich., on Dec. 22.

Syracuse might have too much talent and be playing too well to allow a letdown as they try to improve to 3-0 against St. Francis, located in Brooklyn and out of the Northeast Conference. The Orange won 83-51 over the Terriers in the schools' most recent meeting Nov. 10, 2006.

Johnson averages 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game to lead a Syracuse team shooting 55.3 percent and is among the nation's leaders averaging 89.8 points per contest.

The Orange shot 52.5 percent against Florida, which upset then-No. 2 Michigan State last month.

"Just based on what I've seen with Syracuse, they are capable of winning a national championship," Florida coach Billy Donovan said.

"I haven't seen everybody play, but I would be hard pressed to say that there's three or four teams better than them. I think they have everything. They've got a low post presence. They rebound. They shoot the 3. They're an unselfish team. They can turn you over. They can beat you in a lot of different ways."

That likely doesn't bode well for St. Francis (3-5), which is trying for a third straight victory after beating Hartford 63-60 on Tuesday. Ricky Cadell had a team-high 19 points and hit a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left to give the Terriers the home victory.

The junior guard is averaging a team-leading 15.8 points and has 19 each in two of his last three contests.

St. Francis, which hasn't had a winning season since going 15-13 in 2003-04, is facing a ranked opponent for the first time since its 2006 loss to Syracuse.