Syracuse Orange v. Boston College Eagles Prediction & Preview (1/30/24)
Syracuse (14-6, 5-4 ACC) completes its season series with Boston College, looking for its 12th consecutive win against the Eagles dating back to 2019.
Opponent: Boston College (12-8, 3-6 ACC)
Date & Time: Tuesday, Jan. 30, 7:00 p.m.
Location: Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
TV: ACC Network
PREDICTION
Before it has even faced six ACC teams one time this season, Syracuse will look to complete its second two-game sweep of both of its annual home/away partners- Boston College and Pittsburgh, when it looks to knock off BC for the second time in less than three weeks. The longtime rivalry (origin 1959) spans the Eastern Independent and Big East days, but lately in the ACC it's been tilted in the Orange's favor.
Since the infamous game in February 2014 at the Dome when Nike contractually obligated No. 1 ranked and 25-0 Syracuse to wear a hideous looking combination of a version of the orange script jersey but with mismatched blue pants, and subsequently SU was stunned by BC 62-59 in overtime, the Orange have won 17 of the 19 meetings with the Eagles. The only two defeats occurred at Conte Forum in 2017 and 2018.
In the last meeting on January 10, SU was able to convert 22 Eagles turnovers into 28 points on route to a 69-59 victory. The 'Cuse contained BC big man Quinten Post, although the Eagle's leading scorer (16.6 ppg) and rebounder (7.4 rpg) did not help himself against a strong Orange defense of mainly Maliq Brown and a little Benny Williams, committing seven turnovers, missing all four of his shots, getting in foul trouble early and eventually fouling out.
Brown, on the other hand, excelled against the Eagles, shooting 6-of-7 from the field (three dunks) and 7-of-8 from the foul line on route to 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists, backing Chris Bell's 20 point evening.
This was also the game in which Judah Mintz, replaced by Quadir Copeland, was not in the starting lineup due to a minor violation of team policy, but it hardly mattered with the way the Orange played defense holding BC to 22 first half points and 59 total.
Boston College enters the contest having dropped four of its last six games, both wins coming in a 12-day span versus Notre Dame including this past weekend. Syracuse, after the second half trouble against Florida State last week, bounced back nicely with a strong first half last Saturday to have enough in the tank to comfortably hold off N.C. State.
In the closely compacted middle of the ACC standings where SU currently resides, the Orange are 5-0 against the teams (Miami, N.C. State, Pitt and BC) they've met that are below them in the standings, and 0-4 against the teams (UNC, Duke, UVA, FSU) ahead of them, with an opportunity coming Saturday for a huge road win at Wake Forest.
But first is a necessary road win at BC. Despite the 10-point margin in the first meeting and the Orange opening as 4.5 point favorites, this still seems like a tricky matchup against two teams that know each other well, and an outcome that according to ESPN's analytics matchup predictor favors BC 67%-33%, and based on Data Skrive's computer prediction has BC winning 75-73.
We also see a close game coming down to the wire with scoring in the 70s, but with a different outcome. Williams' inside follow-up at the rim off a Mintz miss with 0:05 to play lifts Syracuse to a 73-72 win over Boston College.
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