Syracuse Basketball: Wake Forest Demon Deacons crystal ball predictions

Neil Adler, contributor (15-7)

The Syracuse basketball squad returns to the court after a week off when the Orange hosts Wake Forest this Saturday evening in an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown.

The ‘Cuse (13-9, 6-5), currently in fifth place in the league standings, is stuck in a two-affair losing streak after falling to highly rated Duke by nine points at home on Febuary 1.

The Demon Deacons (10-12, 3-9), meanwhile, are hovering near the bottom of the conference. However, don’t let Wake Forest’s record fool you. This crew is capable of upending Syracuse.

For one, earlier this week, the Demon Deacons traveled to a top-five Louisville unit and got beat by only 10 points after holding a 12-point advantage at halftime. What’s more, Wake Forest on its own turf defeated Clemson on Feb. 1, and that’s the same Tigers team that knocked off the Orange by one point in late January.

In this season’s topsy-turvy ACC, any group can succeed on any given night. The ‘Cuse and the Demon Deacons will do battle beginning at 8:00 p.m., with the ACC Network providing television coverage. Unsurprisingly, ESPN’s Basketball Power Index says that Syracuse possesses a dominating 84.1 percent chance to prevail.

So far in the 2019-20 campaign, Wake Forest is averaging 71.8 points and allowing 72.7 points per contest, while connecting on 42.4 percent from the field, 74.6 percent from the charity stripe and 34.1 percent from beyond the arc. The Demon Deacons are a solid rebounding bunch, but they do commit a whopping 14.5 turnovers a game.

This means that the Orange must crash the glass with efficiency and force Wake Forest into an abundance of miscues that result in easy transition buckets. The ‘Cuse absolutely has to have this one if it wants to remain even close to the conversation for a March Madness invite, and I project that Syracuse takes care of business inside the Carrier Dome, besting the Demon Deacons by a final count of 77-70.