Scoop Jardine referenced the toll Big East play takes. Ice on his back, banged up following a laboring win over Marquette, the Syracuse senior guard talked about the ramped-up physical nature of recent games.

With Villanova on the horizon, that doesn’t change. And even though this doesn’t appear to be the successful Wildcats teams of recent years, Jardine gave off no sense that Villanova will be any easier.

‘We got Nova on Wednesday, another great game where we can continue to improve ourselves,’ he said. ‘We’re number one in the country but we don’t feel like it. We want to continue to prove people wrong.’

Syracuse’s matchup with Villanova has lost some luster with the Wildcats’ early-season struggles, but the No. 1 Orange (17-0, 4-0 Big East) says it can’t take Villanova (8-8, 1-3) lightly when the two teams meet on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Syracuse is three wins away from reaching the best start in program history, and SU begins its first of three games in a six-day span with a .500 Wildcats squad. 

Villanova lost to Saint Louis and Santa Clara. Its lone Big East win came against DePaul on Sunday. But the Big East teams, with the exception of Syracuse, have beaten each other up.

The Orange are the only team with an undefeated record in conference play, a bit unusual considering how early in the conference season it is.

‘It’s very difficult in this league,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said after the win over Marquette Saturday. ‘You think somebody’s going along, Cincinnati’s won six straight games and St. John’s hasn’t played all that well, and then — boom, they go to Cincinnati and win today.’

The past week has really cannibalized most of the supposed Big East title contenders and placed them in the middle of the pack. No. 11 Georgetown has dropped two straight after a 13-1 start. No. 17 Connecticut fell to Seton Hall and Rutgers. No. 14 Louisville is just 1-3 in conference play.

Pittsburgh fell out of the Top 25, and is the opposite of Syracuse. The Panthers are the lone Big East team without a conference victory.

So after the Marquette win, when asked two different times about going on the road to play Villanova, Boeheim made use of his words to show the amount of focus needed in order to keep SU rolling.

‘I’m trying to get through this one,’ Boeheim said. ‘I can’t start thinking about something I haven’t even thought about yet.’

The Wildcats, despite beating the Blue Demons, are reeling. They are the only Big East team who doesn’t have a winning record. And they’re 194th in field-goal percentage, shooting just 43 percent for the season.

The Orange is coming off the emotional high of pulling out a win over a feisty Golden Eagles squad. After leading by as many as 23, Syracuse let its advantage shrink to as small as two. Marquette guard Junior Cadougan sliced through Syracuse’s 2-3 zone more successfully than most guards have fared this year.

It took a recommitted focus by SU and a herculean effort by guard Dion Waiters, who came out of nowhere to block a Darius Johnson-Odom 3-point attempt late in the second half, to remain undefeated.

That game left SU tired and a little beaten up, with soreness and ice packs commonplace in the locker room.

‘Any Big East game is going to be tough for us because everybody is so strong,’ guard Brandon Triche said.

Syracuse can’t allow for a letdown, even if Villanova is having a down year. There doesn’t appear to be any chances for the Orange to let up, with a difficult Providence team coming to the Carrier Dome on Saturday and Pittsburgh after that.

If Syracuse can reach its all-time best start by getting to 20-0 (the 1999-00 team began their season 19-0), it will be well-earned.

‘That’s just the nature of the game,’ Boeheim said. ‘And it’s a very difficult game and you have to just try to keep your focus, keep moving forward.’

mcooperj@syr.edu 

Published on January 10, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr