Syracuse (12-5, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) travels to Tallahassee to face off with No. 23 Florida State (12-4, 1-3) at 2 p.m. in what will be its second straight top-25 matchup. The Orange, losers of its last three games, are still searching for its first road win in conference play and will have a chance to get it against a Seminoles team that will be without its leading scorer and rebounder, Terance Mann.

Here’s what beat writers predict will be the outcome of the game.

Matthew Gutierrez (15-2)
The Seminole Wars
Florida State 74, Syracuse 60

While Florida State had a 28-game home winning streak snapped this week, the Seminoles have put together a nice resume in nearly beating No. 7 Duke and No. 18 Miami and completing the upset of No. 20 North Carolina. The Orange could use an upset win against a Top 25 team on the road, but it appears SU will lose this one. And it can indeed afford to lose because its next four games, two of which come in the Carrier Dome, are probable wins. Don’t discount Florida State, a great team at home that won 26 games a year ago and will be a top-tier ACC team this season.

Sam Fortier (13-4)
Seminole moment
Florida State 68, Syracuse 66

This game is close to a toss-up. Florida State has a solid defense, but it’s not near Virginia’s caliber and the Orange tallied 61 points on the nation’s best defense Wednesday. FSU also just proved vulnerable at home in Wednesday’s 73-69 loss to Louisville, so SU actually enters with a better chance than most people would have given them a week ago. Still, the separating factors are depth, balance and offensive rebounding. Anyone in the Seminoles starting five can score at times, their depth will allow for fresh legs in crunch time and they crash the offensive glass hard. Syracuse is ranked 126th in the country at keeping its opposition off the offensive boards per Kenpom, so FSU will edge the Orange on Saturday.

Tomer Langer (13-4)
Toma-shocked
Syracuse 68, Florida State 65

Florida State really had its recent 28-game home winning streak with the loss to Louisville. The Seminoles are 1-3 in ACC play so far, although that one win was against North Carolina. Still, the Seminoles are struggling shooting the ball from deep recently, hitting just 13-of-48 3-point attempts over the last two games. Additionally, Louisville coach David Padgett said that his team switched to a matchup zone in the second half of the last game, which gave FSU problems. As much as Syracuse has struggled recently, its defense has still been stellar. Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said that he needed to change his offense when planning to attack 7-foot-2 center Paschal Chukwu. If Chukwu can carry over his good play, he could pose issues for FSU’s best player, guard Terance Mann who prefers to attack the basket. Couple that with some shaky shooting and SU’s harassing defense, and the Orange does just enough to escape with a win.

Published on January 12, 2018 at 5:44 pm