Syracuse (19-10, 10-8 ACC) plays its penultimate game of the regular season when it plays Louisville on the road.

Opponent: Louisville (8-20, 3-14 ACC)

Date & Time: Saturday, Mar. 2, 8:00 p.m.

Location: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY

TV: ACC Network

Louisville is staggering through its second straight difficult season under former player Kenny Payne at 8-20 and 3-14 overall, bleeding points at just about every turn. The Cardinals have the worst defense in the ACC, giving up just under 79 points per game and allowing opponents to shoot 47.0 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from 3-point range. Conference foes have scored at least 75 points against them in 12 of their 17 games, including when Syracuse escaped with a 94-92 home win against the Cards last month.

And that last phrase hints at the jeopardy the Orange are actually in on this road trip. SU has struggled on the road in ACC play, posting a 2-6 record away from home with wins over Pittsburgh and North Carolina State. Those two road wins have been their two best offensive games on the road in conference action, posting offensive efficiency marks of 108.3 and 128.1.

The Orange have ridden their offense on their recent hot streak of five wins in their last seven outings. Syracuse has scored at least 84 points in those five victories, but until their 84-71 win over Virginia Tech on Tuesday night, the other four wins all came by single digits, including that two-point victory where a potential game-winning 3 for Louisville missed the mark.

As you probably gathered from that note of “lots of points and close wins”, Syracuse’s defense has been poor, underscoring how much their offense has carried them during the last three weeks.

In four of those five recent victories, the Orange’s defensive efficiency has ranged between 122.1 and 122.8, with only three other games on the slate resulting in a defensive performance that bad or worse.

While Justin Taylor mentioned in the locker room after Tuesday’s game that the SU defense “needs to travel”, the stats suggest their games are determined on the other end of the floor. Syracuse has been beaten up on the defensive end a lot this season, including giving up the best offensive performance of Louisville’s troubled campaign.

With the Orange’s desire to play uptempo, the Cardinals’ willingness to join in, and both teams’ defensive shortcomings, the rematch should also be a shootout. Look for 3-point shooting to be a factor, as Louisville is just 33-of-135 (24.4 percent) from long range in their last eight games… which includes an 11-for-25 (44.0 percent) night at Syracuse. SU was 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) from downtown in that game, including an 8-for-10 night from Chris Bell, whose hot streak from outside started that night… and came to a halt on Tuesday.

Bell will have a bounce back game of sorts, but fall short of matching those eight 3-pointers against the Cards, whose defense is bad enough for the Orange to outscore them in another up-and-down affair as Syracuse takes it, 89-84.

----

Chat about this story and all things Syracuse and Syracuse recruiting on our premium message board, Cuse Classified!

Follow us on Twitter @TheJuiceOnline, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram @SUJuiceOnline and listen to our podcast.

Tips/questions/concerns? E-mail Recruiting Analyst Charles Kang here.

Not a subscriber to The Juice Online? Join today for access to all our premium content and message board community.