Ann Arbor, MI (SportsNetwork.
[b]Chase Vaughn[/b] .com) - The 17th-ranked Michigan Wolverines continue a four-game homestand on Tuesday, as they play host to the Syracuse Orange as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at the Crisler Center. John Beileins Wolverines have started the season with wins in five of their first six games. The lone loss came to nationally-ranked Villanova (60-55) in last weeks Legends Classic. Michigan was able to get some distance from that loss however, opening up its current homestand on Saturday, with a 91-62 rout of Nicholls State. Jim Boeheims Orange are also sporting a 5-1 overall record. Syracuse suffered its only loss of the season to California (73-59), but has won three games since, including last weeks 72-48 drubbing of Holy Cross. Syracuse leads the series with Michigan by a count of 8-6. However, it was Michigan which won the last meeting, a 61-56 decision in the 2013 Final Four. Like has been the case in recent years, it is Syracuse stingy defensive play which fuels its success. Through six games, opponents are averaging just 51.7 ppg against the Orange, while being held well under 40 percent shooting (.341). That number includes an ugly .268 from behind the arc, as Syracuse seems to contest each and every shot. Senior big man Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 250) has taken his game to a new level this season. He is shooting .559 from the floor and leads the team in both scoring (17.5 ppg) and rebounding (9.5 rpg). Freshman Chris McCullough adds to the strong play in the frontcourt with 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Junior Trevor Cooney (10.2 ppg) and freshman Kaleb Joseph (8.5 ppg, 6.1 apg) provide backcourt balance. Christmas and McCullough were simply too much for Holy Cross to contend with last time out. In all, Syracuse outscored Holy Cross in the paint, 42-16. Christmas was 8-of-10 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free- throw line, finishing with a career-high 25 points. McCullough managed his second career double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Joseph had a strong game as well, tallying 14 points of his own, while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out six assists. Michigan put on an offensive clinic in last weeks win over Nicholls State, as the team shot .552 from the floor overall and was even better from long range, draining 14-of-24 3-point attempts (.583). Five players notched double figures in the win, including four starters. Caris LeVert hit five 3-pointers and led all scorers with 24 points. Ricky Doyle came off the bench with 15 points, while other key contributors included Zak Irvin (14 pts), Kameron Chatman (11 pts) and Spike Albrecht (10 pts). Irvin and LeVert have been a potent one-two punch in the backcourt for Michigan this season. Irvin holds a slight edge in the scoring column at 17.7 ppg, followed closely by LeVerts 17.5 ppg. The pair have combined for 32 of the teams 53 3-pointers through six games. Sophomore point guard Derrick Walton Jr. (13.8 ppg) is the only other Michigan player currently averaging double digits, although he missed the last game due to a foot injury and is listed as questionable for this contest.
[b]Scott Gudmundson[/b] . -- Conor Casey scored two goals, his first of the season, as the Philadelphia Union beat Chivas USA 3-0 on Saturday night.
[b]Hank Lauricella[/b] . -- Officials have approved a deal to build a new $672 million stadium for the Atlanta Braves away from the downtown Atlanta area that has traditionally been its home.With a new management team in place and the addition of a couple of key role players, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey is hopeful his team can make the jump into a playoff position in 2013-14. Speaking on TSN 1050s Macko & Cauz show on Tuesday, the third-year bench boss is excited to see how his new pieces blend with the teams young core. “We needed toughness inside to go along with Jonas Valanciunas), Amir Johnson and Aaron Gray and we brought in Tyler Hansbrough, who I think our fans will be excited about.” To go along with the former Pacers power forward, the team addressed its perimeter shooting need via the Andrea Bargnani deal and in free agency. “We needed three-point shooting and we got Steve Novak and Austin Daye, who is a young untapped talented player who has three-point shooting ability.” Following a 17-32 start, the Raptors played the rest of the season one game over .500, in part because of a renewed emphasis on the defensive end. “We will get back to defence and let the offence take care of itself,” Casey said. “I thought Masai (Ujiri), Jeff (Weltman) and our management team did an excellent job of bringing in the type of players that will fit our needs.” Still, the team finished four games out of a playoff spot and new president and CEO Tim Leiweke decided to make a change in the basketball operations department, replacing former GM Bryan Colanagelo with Ujiri.
[b]Neil Halleck[/b]. Casey said Ujiri and Leiweke operate differently than Coloangelo in that the former GM took a more hands-on approach than the current structure. “Bryans management style is more hands on. Hes there every day, hes involved…Theres nothing wrong with that, its just a different management style.” Casey is confident where the team is headed, but noted that the expectation of a playoff spot last season may have been too unrealistic. “I thought we put the cart before the horse last year in talking about the playoffs too soon, we were still building…Adding Rudy, adding some of the pieces we have now, weve accelerated that building.” Casey mentioned that while the team is positioned to make a playoff push this season, the overall focus is still on growing and developing the talented core they have in place. “We have good young talent thats getting better, but at the same time we want to win. We owe it to our fans, we owe it to our organization to put our best foot forward and go out to compete to win.” ' ' '
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