Girard Continues to Thrive, Syracuse Searches for Signature Win

Syracuse suffered a couple of setbacks on Tuesday night at the Carrier Dome and at this point, it's difficult to say which is the most damaging to the NCAA tournament chances for the Orange.

Syracuse's leading scorer, Elijah Hughes, was forced to leave Tuesday's game against NC State only a few minutes in because of a groin injury he suffered in warm ups. Missing the junior guard's 19 points per game, the Orange struggled down the stretch to hold onto a lead over the Wolfpack losing their tenth game of the season. Syracuse now finds itself tied for 5th in the ACC with NC State and two incredibly difficult games on the horizon; at Florida State and Louisville, both of which are ranked in the top 10.

All of that news wasn't enough to bury the local lead, however. In Hughes' absence and on a night when Buddy Boeheim struggled to score, Joseph Girard III put up a career high 30 points.The Glens Falls' grad's previous high this season was 24 points and he has done nothing shy of surprise plenty of people in his freshman season with his ability to bring a steady hand to the point guard position while also finding ways to be a top-3 scorer.

Matt Gutierrez covers Syracuse basketball for The Athletic and he joined Big Board Sports on Wednesday morning.