The Sports Xchange
Dec 6, 2017
Tyus Battle scored 22 points and Matthew Moyer had 18, one more than his total for the young season coming in, to power Syracuse to a 72-63 nonconference victory over Connecticut in the second game of the Jimmy V Classic doubleheader on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
No. 4 Villanova defeated No. 12 Gonzaga 88-72 in the opening game.
Battle also had three assists and three steals for the Orange (7-1), who were coming off their only loss, to No. 2 Kansas in the Hoophall Invitational in Miami.
Moyer, a sophomore who sat out last year because of injury, came into the game averaging 2.7 points and 4.0 rebounds, with 11 points coming in one game, against Toledo. He went 7 of 8 from the floor and also had seven rebounds and two steals.
Oshae Brissett had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Orange, who had surrendered 34 3-pointers against their ever-present 2-3 zone defense in the last three games but yielded just seven (in 18 attempts) in this game.
Jalen Adams, coming off a 31-point game against Monmouth, led the Huskies (6-3) with 22 points. Christian Vital scored 17 and Terry Larrier 14.
This was the third straight year (the second in a row at Madison Square Garden) the former Big East rivals played, Syracuse now is in the ACC and UConn in the American Athletic Conference.
Syracuse leads the all-time series 56-38 and maintains a 9-7 advantage over their old rivals at Madison Square Garden.
UConn hosts Coppin State on Saturday and Syracuse welcomes Colgate to the Carrier Dome the same day.