SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Rick Jackson scored 19 points and Arinze Onuaku had 17 as Syracuse's two big men dominated the second half, helping the No. 4 Orange rout No. 7 Villanova 95-77 on Saturday night before an NCAA on-campus record crowd of 34,616.
Syracuse (27-2, 14-2 Big East) improved to 7-0 against ranked teams and clinched at least a tie for the Big East title. The Orange also own the tiebreaker because of the victory over the Wildcats (23-5, 12-4), who have lost three of their past four.
On a day when the top two teams in the nation - Kansas and Kentucky - both lost, the Syracuse win could move the Orange to No. 1 for the first time since 1989-90. They were 11th in the final AP poll of the 2002-03 season when they won the national championship.
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