Villanova's game against Syracuse on Saturday gave Wildcat fans hope as 'Nova hung around with the 7th Ranked Orange in a hostile road environment for 30 minutes before losing 72-61.

Here are some notes and stats that may not be clearly evident in the box score.

• The Carrier Dome's attendance of 27,586 has been the biggest home crowd for Syracuse this season- and has won 34 straight there.
• The loss snapped Villanova's 7-game winning streak.
• With the Wildcats getting +17, Villanova beat the spread for the 10th time this season.
• Mouphtaou Yarou accounted for 18% of Villanova's scoring and 40% of 'Nova's rebounds (his 14 boards was a team-high for the season).
• Yarou has recorded a double-double in back-to-back games.
• Villanova logged 10 assists on 17 made field goals- a rate of 58%, just above their season average of 56%.
• In Villanova's 5 losses this season, they have scored 61 or less in 4 of them (74-77 loss at LaSalle is the exception)
• Ryan Arcidiacono shot 1-7 from behind the arc, he's 36-109 on the season 33%
• Jay Wright wants to keep playing Syracuse after the conference split(s). He told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "I hope we can somehow keep this going. You don’t like playing road games, but this is a great place to come and play college basketball."