No. 7 Syracuse Knocks Off No. 10 Florida In Their Backyard

Visit SB Nation's Alligator Army for more Florida analysis and Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician for all things Syracuse.

Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Rick Jackson recorded 21 points and 13 rebounds, and Wesley Johnson added 17 and 10, as No. 7 Syracuse handled the 10th-ranked Florida Gators, 85-73, at St. Pete Times Forum.

Neither team was ranked entering the season but both were unbeaten coming into the game. Only Syracuse (9-0) left with a perfect mark, though, thanks to a 51.6 shooting percentage and a 40-27 rebounding advantage.

Andy Rautins scored 18 points, while Kris Joseph chipped in 12 points and 10 boards for the Orange, who have won every game this season by double digits.

Kenny Boynton and Chandler Parsons paced the Gators (8-1) with 20 and 19 points, respectively. Parsons, though, had seven of the team's 17 turnovers.

Johnson's jumper near the three-minute mark put Syracuse on top 75-69. After Boynton missed a three, Rautins' finger-roll made it an eight-point game, and the Orange made enough free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.

Syracuse used an 8-0 run to build on a 24-22 lead midway through the first half. Brandon Triche's layup yielded the 10-point margin, and the Orange continued to play in front the remaining of the stanza.

Jackson's late slam capped his 16-point first half and gave Syracuse a 42-36 lead heading to the locker room.

Two Johnson free throws had the Big East program up 54-44 at the 14:22 mark of the second half. The Gators caught fire over the next four minutes, hitting five three-pointers in that span to pull ahead.

Parsons' trey from the right wing yielded a 59-57 advantage at the midway point, but the lead was short-lived after Rautins hit a deep three of his own at the other end.

Johnson hit another from downtown on the next Syracuse possession, and the teams traded runs to keep it a four-point Orange lead, 73-69, with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.

The game was part of the Big East/SEC Invitational at the St. Pete Times Forum...Boynton and Erving Walker each had seven assists, with Walker adding 14 points for Florida.

Tampa, FL (Sports Network) – Ravern Johnson scored 14 points and the Mississippi State Bulldogs coasted past the DePaul Blue Demons, 76-45, as part of the Big East/SEC Invitational at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

Romero Osby added 13 points and seven rebounds for MSU (6-2), which stretched its winning streak to three games. Jarvis Varnado notched a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Barry Stewart also finished with 12 points. Kodi Augustus rounded out the double-digit Bulldog scorers with 11 points.

Erick Wallace paced DePaul (5-3) in defeat with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Will Walker chipped in with 12 points.

MSU knocked down 9-of-18 long-range attempts in the first half and used a late 15-0 run to open a commanding 35-15 lead at the break.

The Bulldogs shot 43.3 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes and that was plenty for them to walk away with the 31-point victory.

On the night, MSU finished 12-of-29 from three-point distance and it also controlled the boards, 49-36. The Bulldogs were tenacious on defense as well, holding DePaul to a dismal 28.1 percent shooting performance from the floor.

- Via Sports Network

The SEC/Big East Invitational does things a bit differently than the other conference challenges. Games aren’t played on campus, they’re played as neutral site showcases. Since the Big East has 16 members and the SEC has 12, the two leagues decided to not even bother trying to get the bulk of their members involved.

That means the event is two doubleheaders, one at a “neutral” site in the Big East footprint, the other in the Southeast.

Sometimes, this works. The SEC site in 2007 was Birmingham, and Alabama and Auburn played. Last year in Nashville, Tennessee and Vanderbilt served as hosts. Cincinnati played not far from their campus in 2008, and nearby Louisville joined them. In theory, last night’s doubleheader should have worked, but it seems like all of the Connecticut and Kentucky fans shut St. John’s supporters out of one of their own home arenas. Hence, the World’s Most Famous Arena was eerily quiet for a 7 p.m. tip.

This year, the SEC’s host site is Tampa. That made Florida, the only league member in the state, a natural choice to play in the event. Considering that there wasn’t a geographically convenient choice for the second SEC slot, Mississippi State filled it. And they played (drumroll) DePaul.

You can imagine that there wasn’t a ton of interest for that one. And as someone who watched just about every second of the Bulldogs’ 31-point triumph, I can tell you it would have been louder had they played it in an empty building.

This year’s scheduling reminded me a bit of the 2007 Big East doubleheader in Philadelphia, where Villanova got a home game, and they were joined by that famous Tri-State team, Providence.

The simple solution for this year would have been to put Tampa’s own Big East school, South Florida, in game one. Sure, it could have damaged the SEC’s homecourt advantage, but speaking as the brother of a USF grad, that would have required one of the league’s most football-focused fanbases to turn out for hoops.

Maybe it’s time for the SEC and Big East to scrap the “Invitational” concept and move this thing on campus. That would certainly be a great way to boost participation, as teams are always leery about giving up a home game for a non-exempt one-off neutral site event like this one.