The Syracuse Basketball Squad Will Look To Bounce Back Vs Wake Forest

It’s time for the Syracuse basketball team to bounce back. Something they’ve made a habit of doing in the Carrier Dome this year. Will it continue?

After getting shellacked on the road against ranked foes its last two times out, the Syracuse basketball squad returns to the Carrier Dome’s friendly confines for a pair of ACC clashes.

Up first is a match-up on Tuesday night with Wake Forest, followed by the gauntlet that is No. 6 Florida State this coming Saturday. The Demon Deacons (12-7, 3-4 in conference competition) have won two in a row, besting Miami on Jan. 18 by 17 points at home. Then, WF surprised N.C. State on the road over the weekend.

The Orange (11-9, 3-4), meanwhile, have suffered setbacks in three of its past four contests, including blowout defeats on the road to No. 9 North Carolina and, most recently, Notre Dame, which is ranked No. 14 in the current AP Poll.

The ‘Cuse has a 4-0 advantage in its series with the Demon Deacons. A year ago, senior Trevor Cooney paced SU with 25 points, as Syracuse crushed Wake Forest, 83-55, before a relatively pro-Orange crowd at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A similar result on Tuesday night would prove fantastic, however, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Syracuse, to no one’s surprise, is playing some pretty bad ball these days. And Wake Forest, despite a pedestrian record to date, is performing much better this season.

Danny Manning, a massively popular collegiate star who led Kansas to a national championship in

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1988, is in his third year as the Demon Deacons head coach. He only collected 24 total victories in his first two stanzas, so to already have 12 in the 2016-17 campaign suggests Manning’s outfit is on the upswing.

Wake Forest doesn’t have a ton of impressive wins on its resume, with its top triumphs over the College of Charleston (No. 66 in the RPI) at a neutral-site, the aforementioned N.C. State (No. 79) on the road and Miami (No. 81) at home, as well as Bucknell (No. 97) at home.

However, the Demon Deacons still sport a strong RPI of 23. That’s due to its seven losses coming against schools like No. 1 Villanova on a neutral-court, No. 6 Florida State on the road, No. 9 North Carolina at home, No. 12 Virginia on the road and No. 24 Xavier, also on the road.

Wake Forest is a proficient scoring machine. The Demon Deacons average 82 points a game, while allowing 76. They shoot 47 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range (a recipe for success against the 2-3 zone), and 77 percent from the free-throw line.

The ‘Cuse, on the flip side, puts up about 75 points per contest, while giving up 68. The Orange connects on 46 percent from the field, 39 percent from downtown and 69 percent from the charity stripe.

These stats indicate that WF has the edge on offense, and SU possesses the upper hand on defense. The two programs are fairly identical in other categories such as rebounds, assists and blocks (Syracuse nabs about three more steals a game).

Four players on the Wake Forest roster average double-figures in scoring, led by sophomore John Collins, who registers nearly 17 points per contest.

The Demon Deacons are solid, and the Orange cannot take them lightly. The ‘Cuse clearly needs to get back on the right track, and there’s no more suitable place to do that than in Central New York.

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The odds-makers in Las Vegas have anointed Syracuse as a 2.5-point favorite. I’m not much of a gambling man at this juncture in my life, so all I’m hoping for is a victory. Covering the spread would simply amount to icing on top of the cake.

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