As the starting five take the court on Saturday against Syracuse, it will be difficult not to think about the senior leader who is missing. While the team hopes to get Chris Wright back before the end of the year, he will be absent when the Hoyas take on the Orange and for a while longer after that.

The starting point guard for the Blue and Gray has had his ups and downs this year, scoring just six combined points in wins over Syracuse and Villanova, but he was averaging well over 20 points per game in the three games prior to the disaster against Cincinnati.

Wright, whose torrid shooting over those past three games saw him go 12-of-21 from beyond the arc before an 0-for-4 performance against the Bearcats, will be sorely missed against every team the Hoyas have to play in his absence. But zone defense teams like Syracuse could benefit in particular from the absence of the senior captain, who is a very capable zone-busting shooter when hot.

Wright’s backup, freshman Markel Starks, has shown flashes of brilliance this year and is clearly the point guard of the future for the Blue and Gray. However, he has been abysmal from beyond the arc, hitting just over 19 percent of his long-range attempts.

One of the other options for Head Coach John Thompson III at point guard could be sophomore guard Vee Sanford, who has made 12 of his 19 attempts from three this year, albeit in very limited minutes.

The third option for Thompson is to reinsert sophomore forward Hollis Thompson back into the lineup and turn the primary ball-handling duties over to junior guard Jason Clark or senior guard Austin Freeman. Regardless of who starts, both Sanford and Starks are likely going to have to play big minutes in Wright’s absence.

Thompson has maintained all year long that the Hoyas only need two of their so-called “Big Three” to play well to win any given game, and now that the three has been cut down to two for the foreseeable future, that philosophy will be put to the test. Both Clark and Freeman are going to have to recapture the shooting form that has eluded them recently if the Hoyas are to overcome their archrivals from New York and their vaunted 2-3 zone. That task will be made even more difficult as the Syracuse defense will be focusing on them even more, secure in the knowledge that they have to worry about one less scoring option while Wright is sidelined.

The Orange are coming off a big win over the No. 14 Villanova Wildcats, who had beaten them earlier this year and have thrust themselves back into the conversation for a top-four finish in the conference and a double-bye in the Big East tournament. This would have been unthinkable just a few short weeks ago after Syracuse dropped consecutive games to the Hoyas and Louisville Cardinals, but the Orange have since clawed their way back into contention with a three-game winning streak. With only cellar-dwelling DePaul left on its schedule after leaving the District, Syracuse knows it has a great opportunity to avoid a potentially tricky first-round matchup in the conference tournament if it can win Saturday at Verizon Center.

Boasting a 10-6 Big East record just like the Orange, the Hoyas likely need to win their next two games if they are to have a chance to secure the precious conference tournament double-bye, but that road has gotten undeniably rockier after Wright’s injury. The offense was struggling in the second half against the Bearcats even before the senior broke his hand, but with Wright gone, the team’s offensive output hit a new low.

With a couple days of practice, the offense should have gotten more accustomed to the presence of someone other than Wright at the helm for extended minutes, but it remains to be seen if increased familiarity with new lineups will be enough to improve the dreadful offense that the Hoya faithful were treated to on Wednesday.

Regardless of who plays, though, one thing is for sure — the intensity on display on Saturday will be unmatched as both Syracuse and Georgetown are fighting for the same spot in the top-four of the Big East. Only one can have it, and the hopes of Saturday’s loser will be crushed.

Tip-off is scheduled for noon Saturday at Verizon Center.