ORANGE BRUSH ASIDE COLGATE; JOHNSON SHINES AGAIN

Syracuse continues to roll along and improves to 7-0 with a victory over an upstate rival last night in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse Knocks Out Colgate Early (Syracuse Post-Standard), taking leads of 18-5 and 30-10 and leading by as much as 33 points in the first half and then cruising to a 92-58 win.

Once again, Wesley Johnson is establishing himself as the show in Western NY this winter, finishing with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in just 23 minutes and proving No Pass is Too High for Johnson (Post-Standard) as he soared to slam home an alley-oop from Andy Rautins that put an exclamation point on the win and Johnson's performance. Johnson's early season performance has led to NBA Talk After 7 Games (Auburn Citizen) as he was the MVP of the 2K Sports Classic, dazzling the crowds at Madison Square Garden in wins over North Carolina and Cal. He's also turning heads at the Carrier Dome, averaging 18.3 points per game and shooting 52 percent from the 3-point line.

Rautins, SU Serve Notice (Watertown Daily Times) that this is a different Orange team this year. Rautins, a redshirt senior, led SU with eight assists as --Syracuse was credited as a team with 35 assists on 39 made baskets, an impressive ratio, to say the least.

SU faces Maine this weekend at the Dome before a taking on Florida in the SEC/Big East Challenger December 10th in a meeting of two of the biggest early season risers nationally.