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Syracuse will travel to Raleigh to face NC State on Wednesday night after one of its most convincing performances of the season, a 22-point win over Wake Forest. Buddy Boeheim scored a season-high 30 points, and Cole Swider shot 8-for-11, scoring 18.

Here’s what our beat writers think will happen when Syracuse (10-11, 4-6 Atlantic Coast) plays the Wolfpack (10-12, 3-8 ACC) at 9 p.m. on Wednesday:

Andrew Crane (13-8)
Not last call yet
Syracuse 85, NC State 78

Even though NC State has the 38th-best offense in terms of adjusted efficiency, according to KenPom, it still sits two games under .500 and 14th in the ACC. And that’s largely due to its defense, which just allowed North Carolina to pour in 100 and ranks as the worst and second-worst in the conference for overall and 3-point field goal percentage defense, respectively. The Wake Forest game on Saturday demonstrated that the Orange can win these types of games — when two efficient offenses and two underachieving defenses match up — and I think a similar scenario will emerge on Wednesday in Raleigh. Terquavion Smith will likely find more success against this year’s version of the 2-3 zone than Dereon Seabron because of his 3-point threat. But look for a balanced Syracuse offense to once again help the defense sneak by and complete its first set of back-to-back wins since late December.

Roshan Fernandez (11-10)
Which Syracuse will it be?
Syracuse 80, NC State 77

Conference play hasn’t been kind to the Wolfpack, who’ve lost four of their last five games, including a performance where they allowed 100 points to North Carolina and lost by 20. NC State is two games under .500 and sits second-to-last at 3-8 in ACC play. The Wolfpack’s offense has been fueling them thus far, but their defense — much like Syracuse’s — has been the problem. They rank 232nd in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom, the conference’s worst and just four spots below Syracuse. The Orange haven’t been consistent from game-to-game this season, though. They followed up a season-worst performance against Pittsburgh with a season-best performance against Wake Forest. It’s very hard to predict what Syracuse team will show up on a given day, but I think this team has the right pieces to beat a struggling NC State team by relying on 3-point shooting and strong offense.

Gaurav Shetty (11-10)
Smokin’ that Wolfpack
Syracuse 83, NC State 74

Syracuse’s defense was by no means spectacular in Saturday’s win over Wake Forest, but it did exactly what it needed to secure the victory. The forced turnovers and the challenged shots that held Wake’s second-half shooting to 42.1%. Again, nothing elite, but if you look on the other end of the court, the Orange put up 94 points, so that’s all the defense needed to do. Up next, is NC State, who is quite similar to Syracuse. Both teams are better at offense than defense, and under .500. Ultimately, I think Syracuse’s offense is significantly better than NC State’s. Swider just had his best game of the season against Wake, while Buddy was just named ACC Player of the Week, so with the way the offense is playing, I’d back the Orange to find themselves back at .500.

Published on February 1, 2022 at 10:02 pm