#25 Notre Dame outmaned by #9 Syracuse

After losing two Big East road games in a row to Villanova (75-71, OT) and Pittsburgh (65-55), #9 Syracuse wasn't about to drop a third consecutive. #25 Notre Dame was hoping to head to the Carrier Dome and keep the Orange's streak going, but it was a tough task. Jim Boeheim's squad was up to the Irish's challenge and showed no mercy in a 63-47 domination.

This game became a battle of the Grants. Jerian is a 6'5 junior starting guard for Notre Dame and his younger brother Jerami is a 6'8 freshman forward for Syracuse. The two didn't really guard each other much because they play two different positions on the floor. Jerian would end with 15 points and 5 assists (36 minutes) for the Irish, while Jerami had 14 points and 6 rebounds and played all 40 minutes for the Orange.

Syracuse started out on a mission and it became obvious that they weren't going to stop. The 'Cuse jetted out to a 10-0 lead and Notre Dame was forced to regroup and call a :30 timeout with 15:40 left in the first half. They still hadn't put points on the board 31 seconds later when the media timeout paused the action. It took until a minute later (14:09) until the Irish finally got themselves on the scoreboard with an Eric Atkins three. Atkins' trey ignited ND and they were off on an 11-0 run to take an 11-10 edge over the Orange.

The game was tied up a couple more times at 11 and 13 before Trevor Cooney knocked down a three of his own for a 16-13 lead that Syracuse wouldn't relinquish the rest of the game to the Irish.

The Orange were just too lengthy and outright big compared to the big men down low for Notre Dame. Jack Cooley, Tom Knight and Pat Connaughton were forced to play even bigger than they normally do. Cooley (11), Knight (3) and Atkins (5) combined for 19 of the Irish's 28 rebounds as a team, but that was nothing compared to Syracuse's starting five that grabbed 32 boards between them.

Syracuse would extend its lead in the second half, but the 16-point final score was the second time that the Orange would lead by as much. Notre Dame kept within striking distance, but something always happened that kept them from coming all the way back. It wasn't until two C.J. Fair free throws with 6:47 left that gave the Orange a ten-point lead again (45-35) that kept Notre Dame's deficit above 10 and out of reach. Syracuse held on for a dominating 63-47 Big East win over the visiting Irish.

The Irish are figuring out that they need to use what's left of their bench in the absence of Scott Martin. They're going to have to get more playing time out of Garrick Sherman, along with freshmen Zach Auguste and Austin Burgett. It's a lot to replace the scoring (7.9 ppg.) and three-point shooting (46%) of Martin, but he also averaged 6 rebounds per game.

#25 Notre Dame (18-5, 6-4 Big East) has a tough matchup on Saturday as they'll host #11 Louisville (18-4, 6-3 Big East) on national television. ESPN's College Gameday will be in South Bend for the day, with tipoff at 9 p.m.