The Syracuse Orange were riding a six-game winning streak until running into the Connecticut buzz saw that carved up the Big East tournament last week.

Now the Orange take aim at putting another long winning streak together, and this is the time of year every team wants that to happen.

Syracuse opens play in the NCAA tournament as the third seed in the East regional. The Big Dance begins Friday in Cleveland against Indiana State.

The Orange won their five regular-season games, downing ranked Villanova and Georgetown in the process. After opening the Big East tourney with a victory over No. 18 St. John’s, the Orange fell 76-71 to UConn in overtime in the conference semifinals.

The Orange come in at 26-7 overall, and face a dangerous matchup in round two (the Xavier/Marquette winner) should Syracuse get past Indiana State.

—30—

The Syracuse Orange are playing great basketball at just the right time, winning four games in a row heading into their regular-season finale.

Playing in the Big East Conference, the toughest league in the land this season, the Orange are 24-6 overall and a real threat as the conference tournament begins next week in New York City.

Syracuse is 12th in the national polls – one of eight teams in the league ranked this week – and sits tied for fifth with No. 15 St. John’s in the Big East, three games behind conference leader and fifth-ranked Pittsburgh.

The Orange have won two in a row against ranked teams, both coming on the road: victories at Villanova and at Georgetown to close February.

Syracuse wraps up the regular season Saturday against unranked DePaul. The Orange then head into the conference tournament, with a berth in the NCAA tournament awaiting after that.

—30—

Rick Jackson lead the Orange with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Brandon Triche chipped in 16 points.

The Syracuse zone defense did its job on star guard Kemba Walker, limiting him to just eight points.

The Orange was coming off of a four-game losing streak, which has only occurred three times under head coach Jim Boeheim.

It was obvious after the game that the recent winless stretch was really starting to get to the players.

Kris Joseph lead the Orange with 18 points, and the team had four players score in double figures.

Remarkably, Syracuse’s 17-0 start is the second best in school history, and it comes during a year of relatively low expectations.

Their swarming zone defense held St. John’s to just 36.8 percent shooting from the field, while they shot well over 50 percent.

The Orange closed the first half on a nice run to extend the lead to double-digits and never looked back.

There simply were too many things that went wrong for Syracuse in the West Regional semifinals. As a result, the Orange’s stay in the NCAA Tournament is finished.

The Orange trailed by 10 points at halftime, gave up 11 unanswered points down the stretch and committed 18 turnovers. Put it all together, and the top seed in the West bowed out Thursday night, falling to Butler 63-59 in Salt Lake City.

Now the Bulldogs advance to the regional finals on Saturday. For Syracuse (30-5), as season that started with the Orange unranked, a season during which they would ascend to No. 1 in the nation, ended in bitter fashion.

Down 35-25 at halftime, the Orange opened the second half on a 15-4 run to take a 40-39 lead, Syracuse’s first of the game. But up 54-50 with 5:23 to go, the Orange stopped scoring. Butler poured in the next 11 points and this one was over.

Wes Johnson led Syracuse with 17 points and nine rebounds.

—30—

On paper, it looked like one of those games that could have turned the NCAA Tournament upside down.

But when you shoot the basketball well, intrigue often gives way to ho-hum.

Case in point: the Syracuse Orange, the No. 1 seed in the West Regional. Their second-round matchup with Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament grabbed the attention of those looking for a “bracket buster.”

The only thing busted after this one was the nets, after the Orange scorched the twine to the tune of 12 3-pointers and 54.7 percent shooting overall in an 87-65 blowout.

Wes Johnson led the charge with 31 points, that coming on 11-of-16 shooting from the field. He had plenty of help, though. Often, one player can carry a team through a round or two in the NCAAs. But when you look at what Syracuse did on Saturday, it makes you think this team can go very far into the tournament. Consider:

Guard Andy Rautins hit on 7-of-13 shots for 24 points. His backcourt mate, Brandon Triche, converted 5-of-9 shots. Rautins hit on five 3’s; Triche connected twice from behind the arc. Reserve guard Scoop Jardine shot 4-for-6 from the field.

The Orange also converted on 17-of-23 free throws. Next up is Butler in the Sweet 16 for the Orange, who can only hope to keep shooting like they did against Gonzaga.

—30—

The Syracuse Orangemen made their case for that title on Sunday.

The Big East regular season champs dominated the 8th-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs, cruising to an 87-65 victory and a trip to the Sweet 16.

Wesley Johnson, the league’s player of the year, scored a career-high 31 points to pace Syracuse, which shot 54 percent from the field and hit 12 3-pointers for the game. Senior Andy Rautins accounted for five of them, on his way to 24 points.

The Orangemen will take on the Bulldogs again next week, but this time they’ll be from Butler, the Horizon League champs and No. 5 seed. Those Bulldogs aren’t nearly as deep as Gonzaga but are disciplined and also sport the longest winning streak in the nation (22 games), but Syracuse will still be heavily favored in the contest.

If they play like they did today, they’ll also be heavily favored to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.

The victory was the seventh straight for the Orange, who remained a half-game behind Villanova for first place in the Big East with a 7-1 mark. It was also the 819th of head coach Jim Boheim’s career, passing Jim Calhoun for sixth all-time in Division I.

Kris Joseph and Andy Rautins paced a balanced attack for Syracuse, each scoring 15 points. None of the seven players who earned playing time scored less than five points. Rautins, the Big East’s leader in steals, added six more as well as six assists.

Austin Freeman led Georgetown with 23 points, but received little help. Talented big man Greg Monroe was particularly quiet, limited to just eight points, four rebounds, and six turnovers.