Phil D’Abbraccio (16-3): Syracuse 61, Miami 58
Raining oranges
A tropical storm is making its way to central New York, but at least Syracuse has an emergency shelter — as insecure as it may be, considering the monsoon that’s coming — in the Carrier Dome to hide in for the time being. As ridiculous as it might be to say at this point in the season, this game is a must-win for SU and it’ll respond with that sense of urgency. Tonye Jekiri is better than most big men Syracuse has faced, but that won’t stop Rakeem Christmas. The Orange dodges the first wave of challenging Atlantic Coast Conference play, but might be better off evacuating before the serious downpour comes.

Jesse Dougherty (16-3): Syracuse 64, Miami 59
Braving the storm
If you can give Syracuse credit for anything this season, it’s that it has consistently played to its opponents — which is good or bad depending on the game. Miami comes into the Dome as one of the ACC’s biggest surprises this season, but even the Hurricanes have had a fair share of lapses. Another one comes against an Orange team that badly needs a signature win on its currently unimpressive postseason resume, and it’s the visitors’ big men that find themselves in foul trouble in this one. When that happens, inexperienced forwards find themselves on Christmas’ back and the result is easy buckets. The SU zone stands up to Miami’s scrappy backcourt, and the home faithful is satisfied for the moment.

Jacob Klinger (16-3): Miami 63, Syracuse 61
U already know
Syracuse gets off to a slow start and the Hurricanes don’t give the Orange enough of a chance to recover. In SU’s truest test of conference play so far, the team meets an opponent that can’t contain but won’t be dominated by Christmas. Any sluggish shooting by the Orange gets punished by the 37.4 percent from 3 the Hurricanes have been putting up this season. And the season starts to look really queasy for SU fans with a trip down to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and plenty worse fates on the horizon.