Chris Wright, starting point guard for the 11th ranked Hoyas, broke his left hand on Wednesday in a 58-46 loss to Cincinnati.

Wright’s absence was apparent in Georgetown’s 58-51 loss to Syracuse as the Hoyas missed 32 of its 50 shots, including 11 of its 12 attempts after taking a two-point lead with 10 minutes 2 seconds in the game.

The Hoyas' 36 percent field goal percentage was their second worst this season; the 25 percent effort in Wednesday's loss to Cincinnati was the worst of coach John Thompson III’s tenure. Without Wright running the point, the Hoyas have looked out of sorts offensively.

“At points, we were holding the ball a little bit too long, looking for something," said guard Austin Freeman.

Syracuse won their fourth straight game as the nation's No. 17 team topped No. 11 Georgetown on Saturday afternoon.

"We came out on the losing end," Hoyas coach John Thompson III said simply.

The Orange got 12 points and seven rebounds from Rick Jackson. They pulled away after trailing 45-43 with 10 minutes left.

Syracuse had lost two straight to Georgetown.

Rick Jackson leads the Big East in blocked shots, with 2.88 blocks per game.

“It’s all timing,” Jackson said. “Lot of guys jump really high, but they can’t block shots. It’s about timing. You gotta stay patient. I can’t really tell you what it is. You just gotta have that feel for it.”

Jackson also assigns part of his ability to block shots to the fact that he’s left-handed.

“If a guy shoots with his right, your left hand is right there,” Jackson said. “So I think it does help a whole lot.”

Syracuse’s Rick Jackson and Scoop Jardine combined for 38 points in a 69-64 victory over Villanova.

The victory avenged Syracuse's 83-72 home loss to Villanova earlier this season.

When Syracuse and Villanova last saw each other last month, they were a combined 34-3.

Since that Jan. 22 meeting in Syracuse, the Orange and Wildcats were a combined 9-9 entering Monday night's game, including a couple of Saturday overtime scares against two of the dregs of the Big East. Villanova edged DePaul, 77-75, and Syracuse outlasted Rutgers, 84-80.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim believes the team's local media is being unfair.

After the No. 17 Orange rallied late to beat West Virginia, 63-52, on Monday night to snap a three-game losing streak in the Carrier Dome, Boeheim ripped the local media's coverage.

"I think what happens when we lose a couple or we're not playing right, people think the season's over," Boeheim said of Syracuse, who lost six of eight before beating the Mountaineers.

"Sometimes, I think we need to keep perspective a little bit. When you lose a couple, you're going to lose some confidence. I don't think you can judge people, players, coaches, on little segments. When you start judging people on a little segment, I think you've really got poor journalistic grounds."

Apparently, a graphic in a recent edition of The Post-Standard of Syracuse irked Boeheim. It listed his record against several coaches, including Big East rivals Jay Wright of Villanova, Pitt's Jamie Dixon, and Louisville's Rick Pitino.

"There are some coaches that are in the Hall of Fame that I've beaten 80 percent of the time, and you're going to look at a couple of coaches that beat me," Boeheim asked. "I coached against Rick Pitino five times [when Pitino was] at Providence and once at Kentucky, and we were 6-0 against him. One of his teams went to the Final Four -- we beat it three times. So you're going to put in the paper that I've lost to Rick Pitino six straight times? Why don't you put in that I beat him six straight times?"

No. 16 Louisville defeated No. 12 Syracuse 73-69 to keep the Orange reeling.

"We don't get down," Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said. "(Director of basketball operations) Ralph (Willard) told me this was going to be a tough year (but) we've had some surprises along the way. We really haven't had a bad game in the Big East."

Syracuse has lost six of their last eight games.

"It's tough when you're (20) down on the road to come all the way back," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "We made a great effort and got our offense going and did some good things on the defensive end, but you can’t get that far behind."

The rosters for the 2011 McDonald's All-American High School teams were announced on Thursday.

East Team
Brad Beal, Florida
Chane Behanan, Louisville
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia
Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse
Rakeem Christmas, Syracuse
Quinn Cook, Duke
Michael Gilchrist, Kentucky
P.J. Hairston, North Carolina
James McAdoo, North Carolina
Johnny O’Bryant III, LSU
Marshall Plumlee, Duke
Shannon Scott, Ohio State

West Team
Khem Birch, Pittsburgh
Wayne Blackshear, Louisville
Anthony Davis, Kentucky
Branden Dawson, Michigan State
Myck Kabongo, Texas
LeBryan Nash, Oklahoma State
Austin Rivers, Duke
Marquis Teague, Kentucky
Adonis Thomas, Memphis
Amir Williams, Ohio State
Kyle Wiltjer, Kentucky
Cody Zeller, Indiana

• Click here to view RealGM's section on the McDonald's All-American Game

Syracuse defeated Connecticut on the road by a final of 66-58 to end a four-game losing streak amid rumors of point-shaving.

"If you talk about that, if you even ask me a question about that, you’re worse than the guy who put it out there," Boeheim said of that point-shaving gossip. "If nobody talks about it, if nobody writes about it, if nobody puts it on the air, it’s nothing. Talk about it, write about it . . . you’re worse than him."

A blogger reported that the Orange might be involved in point-shaving, but recanted hours before Wednesday's tip.

"The story," Boeheim said, "should be: ‘Why are we talking about this?’ Are you going to ask me about everything that goes on those blogs? ‘Jim Boeheim robbed a store.’ Are you going to ask me about that?

"People calling me. People calling our people. People calling our players. It’s wrong. It should never have been done. There’s nothing there. And there’s nothing murky here. These are not murky times. If people go on those blogs and take stuff at face value, they’re idiots."