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After allowing 58 points in the second half and falling to Miami on Wednesday, Syracuse travels to Wake Forest, looking to prevent its first three-game losing streak since the 2019-20 season. The Demon Deacons are undefeated at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum this season, though they’ve only defeated SU once in their all-time series — in 2018, when WF won by six points.

The Demon Deacons most recently defeated Florida State by 22 points, and before that they lost back-to-back conference games following a 12-day break in mid-December. Alondes Williams leads Wake Forest in scoring, averaging just over 20 points per game.

Here’s what The Daily Orange’s beat writers think will happen when Syracuse (7-7, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) travels to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to face Wake Forest (12-3, 2-2 ACC).

Andrew Crane (8-6)
Free fallin’
Wake Forest 79, Syracuse 72

The Orange’s defensive performance in the second half against Miami makes it difficult to pick them to win this game, especially considering how those issues on defense have compounded each other throughout the year. They’ve struggled to put together complete games, failing to mesh a clicking offense with a porous defense, and it seems like each game, teams find different ways to pour in points while doing just enough to limit Syracuse’s offense. Last game, it was the Hurricanes capitalizing on 19 SU turnovers to win.

On Saturday, look for Wake Forest to rely on 2-point shots to pierce the Orange’s zone, as it ranks fourth nationally in that category, per KenPom. Williams, a 6-foot-5 guard who transferred from Oklahoma, draws 5.7 fouls per 40 minutes — the 87th-best rate in the country — and that could create foul trouble issues for Jesse Edwards and the forwards at the bottom-three spots of the zone. I think another close game will flip in Wake Forest’s favor during the final minutes and the Orange’s record will dip under .500.

Roshan Fernandez (8-6)
Wake-up call
Syracuse 77, Wake Forest 75

Against Wake Forest, I don’t think Syracuse will fall below .500. It’s true that the Demon Deacons haven’t lost a home game this season, but the Orange are due for a bounce-back performance. The offense looked impressive in the first half against Miami, but then turnovers and a poor defense cost SU what should’ve been an easy victory. In Winston-Salem, it’s unlikely the Orange will be able to build an 18-point lead like they did against the Hurricanes. But SU did seem to show defensive improvement for parts of the Miami game. The Orange need that to carry over (and against WF, who ranks 178th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage, there’s hope of that).

They also need to develop more consistency shooting the basketball. I’m not sure Syracuse can put together a complete performance across 40 minutes — it hasn’t done that all season — but I have a feeling Wednesday’s loss served as a wake-up call for this SU team. Syracuse has to stop hitting the snooze button, and on Saturday, I think it’ll do that.

Gaurav Shetty (8-6)
Confusing ‘Cuse
Wake Forest 88, Syracuse 84

At this point in the season, it’s becoming more and more difficult to predict how Syracuse games will end. Against Miami, it looked like Syracuse might have turned a corner with a really strong defensive performance. The Orange held the Hurricanes to just 30 points in the first half. But a season-high 19 turnovers allowed Miami to score 58 second-half points.

Syracuse still put up 87 points even with Buddy Boeheim scoring just nine. For 20 minutes, Syracuse put together a complete game but then fell apart in the second half. The Orange have never sat at .500 this late in the season under head coach Jim Boeheim, and against Wake Forest I see it getting worse, with the Orange dropping to 7-8. The Demon Deacons are a solid team, but they aren’t significantly better than Syracuse on paper. But Syracuse’s tendency to find new ways to lose — poor defense against UVA, followed by turnovers against Miami — will allow a capable Wake Forest team to pull out the victory.

Published on January 7, 2022 at 9:28 pm