Syracuse Basketball: North Florida Ospreys crystal ball predictions

DAYTON, OH - MARCH 18: Head coach Matthew Driscoll speaks with Dallas Moore #14 of the North Florida Ospreys against the Robert Morris Colonials during the first round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 18, 2015 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OH - MARCH 18: Head coach Matthew Driscoll speaks with Dallas Moore #14 of the North Florida Ospreys against the Robert Morris Colonials during the first round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 18, 2015 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
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Syracuse basketball (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
Syracuse basketball (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

Syracuse basketball will look to pound another non-conference opponent on Saturday vs North Florida. Here are our full predictions for the contest.

Syracuse basketball dodged a bullet vs Oakland on Wednesday, they’ll hope to do the same vs a sneaky North Florida squad.

These two non-conference opponents will tip things off at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 21 in the loud house. The Orange are 6-5 on the season after beating the Golden Grizzlies. While the Ospreys of North Florida are also just a game above .500 (7-6).

Not surprisingly the analytics heavily favor the Orange in this contest. ESPN BPI has Syracuse as an 89.3 percent favorite in this matchup. Despite what some of the experts say, keep a close eye on North Florida.

They’re among the top-40 nationally in three-pointers and have five players that average at least 40 percent from deep so far in 2019-20. While a patented way to beat the 2-3 zone is shooting over it, which it seems North Florida is more than capable of doing.

With all of that being considered here are our top predictions for this matchup plus the top x-factors and storylines to watch out for this one.