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With six wins in seven games, Syracuse appears to be on a roll as the season winds down. Up next, though, is the Orange’s toughest stretch of the season. First, is a trip to South Bend, Indiana, on Wednesday night to take on Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are second in the Atlantic Coast Conference at 12-4 and provide a chance for SU to get its first Quadrant 1 win of the season.

Notre Dame was on a five-game winning streak but lost to Wake Forest on Saturday. The Fighting Irish have lost more than two games in a row just once this season.

Here’s what The Daily Orange’s beat writers think will happen when the Orange meet up with the Fighting Irish:

Andrew Crane (19-8)
Missing their Q(uadrant 1 wins)
Notre Dame 83, Syracuse 75

Maybe the poor shooting performance against Georgia Tech was an outlier, but Syracuse’s offense hasn’t looked convincing since Jesse Edwards’ season-ending injury. Neither Frank Anselem nor Bourama Sidibe provide the same elements that Edwards did, and Edwards had unlocked open shots that just haven’t materialized for the guards, or not to the same degree, since. After months of lapses and instances where it was the primary reason for a loss, the defense has outplayed the offense, and that’s concerning.

Against an offense like Notre Dame’s — boosted by the 38th-best 3-point percentage in the country, per KenPom — a similar flow to the Virginia Tech game could surface, with the Fighting Irish attempting 3 after 3 and inevitably hitting some. And at this point, it’s difficult to pick the Orange here because they either won’t defend the 3 and allow double-digit makes from beyond the arc, or they won’t be able to hit their own shots to keep up. This just isn’t a game Syracuse wins.

Roshan Fernandez (17-10)
Running it back
Syracuse 76, Notre Dame 74

Last season, Syracuse knew that if it lost to Notre Dame, its NCAA Tournament hopes would probably vanish for good. The Orange trailed by 20 points at one point during the game but held the Fighting Irish without a bucket for over six minutes and came back for an eight-point victory. This season’s scenario isn’t quite the same, but if Syracuse does want to work its way back toward the NCAA Tournament bubble, it’ll need to steal its first Quadrant 1 win of the season. The Orange are 0-6 in Q1 games so far, and with Notre Dame ranked 57th in the NET rankings, SU is running out of opportunities to earn big wins.

All that being said, I don’t think Syracuse shoots as poorly as it did against Georgia Tech. The defense saved that win for the Orange, which is a good sign of progress, and I think it’s capable of stepping up.

Gaurav Shetty (16-11)
The end is near
Notre Dame 80, Syracuse 74

The Orange have gone on a nice run after some called their season over after a loss to Pittsburgh. Apart from Wake Forest, however, all of the wins really should’ve been expected. The season just got lighter at the right time for SU, and the team was able to take advantage of that. But these next four games will probably end SU’s chances of a postseason tournament barring a miracle run in the ACC Tournament. Notre Dame is second in the conference, but the team is good, not great, with the Fighting Irish ranked 58th on KenPom. If this game was in Syracuse, I may have been convinced to pick the Orange, but I don’t trust SU’s defense in a road test without Edwards.

Georgia Tech was poor from 3, with Michael Devoe shooting 4-for-12, but Notre Dame is ranked 38th on KenPom in 3-point percentage, so I trust the Fighting Irish to make just enough 3s to top SU in South Bend.

Published on February 22, 2022 at 9:19 pm