Syracuse Basketball: Miami Hurricanes crystal ball predictions

Mat Mlodzinski, contributor (17-13)

Syracuse – 82, Miami – 68

Last time out, the Syracuse Orange were able to get a wire to wire win over Boston College, improving their record to 17-13 (10-9). The win also locked up a 50th consecutive winning season for Syracuse, the longest streak in the country.

The ‘Cuse still has one more game to play before the ACC Tournament, which is against a Miami Hurricanes team that has struggled a lot this season.

The ‘Canes are 14-15 (6-13) and have really struggled on defense, allowing almost 75 points per contest, good for 286th in the nation according to ESPN.com. With Chris Lykes, they have options to score the ball, but it’s a lot of 1-on-1 within the game, as Miami doesn’t even average 10 assists a game as a team, which is just a few spots away from LAST in the country.

Again, Lykes is a scorer, but his height compromises his ability to defend, leaving Joe Girard III as a good option to score the ball. Girard has a few inches on Lykes, which is one of the few players he will be able to say that against all season long. Thus, it could be a game where Girard can find more open looks than usual, perhaps putting him in play for a very big game from deep.

As a team, Syracuse’s defense should alter the ‘Canes, while the Orange have more than enough options to really torch a bad Miami defense. Not only that, but there is some incentive to finish ACC play above .500, and earn another win as Syracuse will need everything it can get to make it’s resume as best as possible for ‘Selection Sunday’. It starts with a win over Miami.