Listen, family, I'm 48 years old now, and I just can't hang with these 9:00 pm EST start times for Syracuse basketball. Lol.
I'm loading up on caffeine this morning, and the Orange is preparing to host Florida State on Tuesday evening at the JMA Wireless Dome. Here's how to watch this Atlantic Coast Conference clash.
The 'Cuse (11-5 overall, 2-1 in the ACC has won two straight league games, both on the road. The Seminoles (7-9 overall, 0-3 in the ACC), meanwhile, have dropped three in a row.
At the time of this writing, FanDuel had Syracuse basketball as an 8.5-point betting favorite over FSU, with the over/under set at 159.5 points.
Other metrics for Syracuse basketball hosting Florida State on Tuesday evening.
The Seminoles have an NCAA NET ranking of No. 133. It's a quadrant-three encounter for the Orange, which has moved up to No. 67 in the NET.
Here is more data on FSU and SU:
Florida State
Road: 0-3
Neutral: 0-3
Home: 7-3
Quadrant One: 0-6
Quadrant Two: 0-2
Quadrant Three: 0-1
Quadrant Four: 7-0
Syracuse basketball
Road: 2-0
Neutral: 1-3
Home: 8-2
Quadrant One: 1-4
Quadrant Two: 1-0
Quadrant Three: 1-1
Quadrant Four: 8-0
Candidly, Florida State isn't all that good. The Orange needs to handle business at home against FSU, and the 'Cuse also has to dispatch of Boston College on the road this coming Saturday afternoon. That would put Syracuse basketball at 13-5 overall and 4-1 in ACC play, including three conference road triumphs, before the schedule intensifies.
KenPom places Florida State at No. 114 overall, No. 102 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 155 in adjusted defensive efficiency. At this juncture in the 2025-26 season, the Seminoles have the ACC's worst scoring defense, allowing 81.3 points per game.
The Orange is No. 63 overall at KenPom, No. 95 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 48 in adjusted defensive efficiency. The 'Cuse has the ACC's second-best scoring defense, giving up 65.7 points per contest.
In the injury reports submitted to the ACC on Monday night, the only Syracuse basketball player listed as out is freshman wing Aaron Womack, who is expected to redshirt this season.
For FSU, listed as out is freshman guard Xavier Osceola. Listed as probable are junior big man Shah Muhammad and senior forward Alex Steen. Per ESPN, Muhammad is averaging 7.1 minutes, 2.3 points and 1.2 rebounds per affair. Steen averages 17.1 minutes, 6.9 points and 5.9 boards per game.