James Southerland -- aka J-South, aka Dirty South, aka J-Smooth, aka we need to settle on a nickname he's a senior for crying out loud -- exploded for 35 points on a record-tying nine 3-pointers in a 91-82 Syracuse win Friday night at Arkansas. Jim Boeheim likely didn't want to play this game -- he doesn't exactly relish non-conference road games -- but the Cuse didn't have much of a choice in this last season in the Big East, so they headed down to Fayetteville, Arkansas, as part of the Big East / SEC challenge that the Big East has been winning handily. The Orange were 4-0 and winning games easily against strong mid-majors (SDSU, Wagner, and Princeton all made the tournament last year) but playing an away game in a tough place to play against an SEC team would prove a stronger challenge than Wagner, for sure. And Arkansas was tough. They couldn't shoot well but their frenetic pace led to scores of Syracuse turnovers and even more fouls. While the Orange had an 8 to 15 point lead for pretty much the entire game, it never felt like they had the game in hand because with the way the Razorbacks play, pressing all the time, running at every opportunity, an 8-0 run to get them back into the game seemed imminent. They did cut it 3 at one point in the second half and then Southerland banged home another couple threes and they never got that close again. Great win for the team and a coming out party for who will clearly be the team's third straight Big East Sixth Man of the Year (following Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters the past two seasons).