On December 28th 2013 Syracuse faced their largest test of the year against the #8 Villanova Wildcats. The Carrier Dome was a sea of orange ready to cheer on New York's college. Coming into the game Syracuse had their work cut out for them facing out against a very physical Wildcat team with the likes of JaVaughn Pinkston and James Bell. From the start it seemed like Villanova had the Orange all figured out as they jumped to a 25-7 lead early on. An insane turn of events occurred as the first half progressed as Syracuse held Nova to their 25 points until they took the lead from them. Tyler Ennis and Trevor Cooney were the main contributors to the insane run. The first half came to an end with Syracuse leading 38-34. It was much of the same in the second half. Syracuse maintained control of the game with big time plays by C.J. Fair and outside shooting from Cooney. The Cuse defense was in lockdown mode in the second half holding Villanova to 28. The game concluded with a 78-62 victory for the Orange. The victory showed how resilient this team is. Being down by nearly 20 to start the game and then they are able to come back and nearly win by 20. When you are watching them play now and they are losing reflect back to this game and never count them out no matter how bad it seems. Cooney lead the way in scoring with 21 points alongside 3 steals. Tyler Ennis played very well with 20 points and 4 rebounds and C.J. Fair played his game with 17 points and 6 boards. Jerami Grant also had a notable performance with 11 points and 6 rebounds. This win finally shows that Syracuse can defeat a top 25 ranked team. This is a great win for the Orange, but they have many more challenging games coming up.
Trevor Cooney, 21 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals
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