Syracuse Orange v. Florida State Seminoles Prediction & Preview (1/23/24)
Syracuse (13-5, 4-3 ACC) will try to move to a perfect 10-0 at home when it hosts Florida State on Tuesday evening.
Opponent: Florida State (11-7, 5-2 ACC)
Date & Time: Tuesday Jan. 23, 7:00 p.m.
Location: JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
TV: ESPN2
PREDICTION
What do you do for an encore?
It's going to be awfully hard for Syracuse to top the excitement of the sweet finish to Saturday's back-and-forth affair against Miami, executing the thrilling final play sequence which resulted in Quadir Copeland nailing the buzzer-beating three-pointer to sting the 'Canes.
Instead, in a conference in which its essentially been proven that any team can beat any other on any given night (except undefeated North Carolina), the Orange will concentrate on extending a two game winning streak and staying unbeaten on Jim Boeheim Court this season, just one of four ACC teams to remain unblemished at home. The 'Cuse, by-the-way, has not finished a Dome season undefeated since 2012.
The main eight player Orange rotation has continued to jell as each game unfolds, with individual roles solidified in the wake of season-ending injuries and in-game situations, topped by Saturday's exciting finish. Now it's a quick turnaround to face a Florida State team that was jolted back to the reality of the league's competitiveness with its home loss Saturday to Clemson, which had itself dropped 4-of-5 entering the game, and the result ended a five-game FSU winning streak.
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton characteristically played a whopping 12 players (nine scored points) three minutes or more against Clemson. The 'Noles style is such that no player is among the top 25 ACC scorers, and only forward Jamir Watkins is among the top 25 in rebounding.
The 75-year old Hamilton, currently the dean of ACC coaches in his 22nd season, lamented a lack of consistency after the Clemson loss, especially defensively and the huge (17) rebounding differential. Clemson shot 51% and got to the free throw line often (21-of-25) against FSU, something the Orange will look to replicate.
SU's Judah Mintz, fifth in the conference in scoring (17.9 ppg) and assists (4.3 apg), has certainly been getting to the foul line consistently all season. He is tied for ninth nationally with 150 free throw attempts, a gigantic 51 more attempts than the second most in the ACC, Armando Bacot of UNC with 99. Mintz has tallied 37% of his team leading 322 points at the foul line, and will certainly have the ball in his hands when any game is on the line.
As the season has progressed and the Dome wins have accrued, the Orange players have talked a little bit more about the importance of holding serve at home. We think that mindset and subsequent team play continues as Syracuse will hold off a late Florida State rally to get by the Seminoles 75-71.
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