No. 7 Syracuse 55, South Florida 44: Brandon Triche scored 20 points while James Southerland added 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench as the visiting Orange maintained their dominance over the Bulls.

C.J. Fair finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds – his fifth double-double of the season – for Syracuse (14-1, 2-0 Big East), which defeated South Florida (9-4, 0-1) for the 10th time in 11 all-time meetings.

Victor Rudd posted his second consecutive double-double – and fourth of the season – with 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls.

The Orange’s conference-best offense got off to their second miserable start in as many games and fell behind 17-7 following a layup by Jawanza Poland just 7:54 into the contest. However, Southerland nailed a 3-pointer as Syracuse scored on its next four possessions and closed the half on a furious 23-6 run to take a 30-23 advantage at half.

Although South Florida pulled to within five points late in the second half, Southerland hit another 3-pointer and Triche scored the next four points to give the Orange a 54-42 lead with one minute remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Syracuse used a similar late first-half run in Wednesday’s 78-53 win over Rutgers, scoring the final 21 points of the first half. … South Florida is undefeated when it scores more than 56 points this season and winless when it fails to do so. … The Orange shot just 5-of-9 from the foul line – the fewest makes and attempts in a game since matching both marks in their NCAA Tournament regional semifinal win over Wisconsin last season.