Syracuse (18-10, 9-8 ACC) closes out the home portion of the regular season schedule against up-and-down Virginia Tech, looking for its third straight win.

Opponent: Virginia Tech (15-12, 7-9 ACC)

Date & Time: Tuesday, Feb. 27, 7:00 p.m.

Location: JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, NY

TV: ESPNU

That was quick.

It's hard to believe that the Virginia Tech game will mark the last we see of the 2023-24 Orange at the Dome during Adrian Autry's rookie coaching campaign. It's an unusual schedule quirk this season to have the final home game contested in February, followed by two road games then being the odd team out and not scheduled to play on the final Saturday (March 9) of the regular-season.

No more home games, that is unless the school hosts a First Round NIT game as one of the top 16 seeded teams in that 32 team field, to be announced on "Selection Sunday" in under three weeks. But for now, there's a minimum of four games on the SU schedule beginning with the Hokies visit, and everything to play for in terms of authoring a postseason resume.

Virginia Tech's season has been the epitome of the bulk of the ACC teams this year, consistently inconsistent. After being primed for hosting Commonwealth rival Virginia just eight days ago and romping to a 75-41 win over the Cavaliers, Tech stunk up (3-of-20 three-point shooting) Petersen Events Center this past Saturday night losing to Pitt 79-64, falling to 1-8 in true road games this season (only win at N.C. State) and have dropped five of its last seven games overall.

The SU defense will have to be 'on guard' slowing down the Hokies strong shooting backcourt of Sean Pedulla and Hunter Cattour who combine to average almost 30 ppg. Center Lynn Kidd struggled against Pitt (two boards) playing just 16 minutes, but has had a productive season. Long range shooter Tyler Nickel comes off the bench, he's shooting 41% from beyond the arc, but was 0-for-4 long range at Pitt (0-6 overall).

It's Senior Night for Syracuse, although the only listed senior on the roster is (current) walk-on forward Chaz Owens, who has only played one minute with no statistics against College of Saint Rose in the preseason exhibition game. (Fourth-year junior Mounir Hima is on schedule to graduate this semester.)

Instead, it will be the eight sophomores and one junior who have seen the totality of playing time down the stretch, as the 'Cuse tries to also battle against inconsistency over 40 minutes and finish with a 14-2 homecourt mark this season. It will be important for SU to tie together a balance of offensive production from both three-point shooting and assist-to-basket buckets, while chasing down the Hokies shooters defensively, and of course the season long focus on rebounding.

Since upsetting North Carolina Feb. 13, the final margin in SU's three successive games has been five (Ga. Tech-L), four (NC St.-W) and three (N.D.-W) points, respectively. We'll stay on that theme with a late basket on its final possession propelling Syracuse to a 77-75 victory over Virginia Tech.

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