After a narrow 76-69 victory, over Men of Mackey and seven-foot-two big Isaac Haas, Boeheim’s Army plays Sideline Cancer on Saturday at 4 pm.
Sideline Cancer is led by 5-foot-9 guard Marcus Keene who is averaging almost 23 points per game. John Gillon noted that Boeheim’s Army’s game plan revolves around Keene. However, Gillon said that BA can’t allow someone else to beat them because they are so focused on Keene.
Gillon and Andrew White both expect Keene to have a tougher time scoring against the 2-3 zone.
“We may not have played all together at one time but we did play under the same coach, the same philosophies, but most importantly everybody pretty much understands the zone,” Demetris Nichols said. “A lot of teams in America play zone but not a lot of teams play the zone like Syracuse.”
No. 22 Sideline Cancer is the second highest seed left in The Basketball Tournament after upsetting No. 11 Team Hines and No. 6 Challenge ALS. Sideline Cancer defeated Challenge ALS without star big Diamond Stone, who scored 19 in the first game. He is not expected to play against BA, according to Syracuse.com, after partially tearing his achilles.
Besides Keene, Sideline Cancer’s Remy Abell is also a threat from distance. So far, the former Indiana guard is averaging 17 points per game and hitting over half of his three point attempts.
“We’re ready for a battle,” Eric Devendorf said on Fizz Radio. “That’s what you should expect every game in this tournament.”
Devendorf, who led the team with 20 points against Men of Mackey, also expected BA’s three point shooting to improve. In its first game, the squad shot less than 20 percent from downtown, despite head coach Ryan Blackwell mentioning that shooting was the team’s strength.
“We’ll knock down those shots,” Devendorf said. “We got good looks, we just didn’t make them.”
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