Syracuse (11-4, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) cruised to two early wins to start off ACC play. SU runs into a Georgia Tech team (9-6, 1-1) lacking two of its biggest stars from last year. The Orange, who have relied heavily on the play of Oshae Brissett and Tyus Battle this season, have won against conference opponents when a third threat steps up — first Elijah Hughes, then Marek Dolezaj.

Here’s what our beat writers think will happen Saturday at the Carrier Dome.

Billy Heyen (13-2)
Avoiding a sting
Syracuse 59, Georgia Tech 50

Georgia Tech has one of the best defenses in the country, but the Yellow Jackets pair that with one of the ACC’s worst offenses. So while it might be a second-straight game where Syracuse struggles to create lots of space to shoot, the Orange will put up more points than their 2-3 zone will allow. Syracuse should once again take advantage of Marek Dolezaj’s quickness and passing to deal with the Yellow Jackets’ man-to-man and head into a meeting with Duke perfect in the conference thus far.

Charlie DiSturco (12-3)
Keep the ball rollin’
Syracuse, 61, Georgia Tech 56

This game will be much closer than people expect. While Georgia Tech struggles from 3 and its offense is has struggled to keep the ball safe, its defense is among the best in the country. That’s what kept the Yellow Jackets in contention for a potential upset over No. 9 Virginia Tech and will cause the Orange offense to struggle on Saturday. The key difference here is turnovers. Syracuse jumped out in front and never looked back against Clemson, a lot of that having to do with turnovers leading to transition buckets. The Yellow Jackets rank 272nd in the country in turnover percentage, per Kenpom.com, just slightly better than Clemson. SU will use this to its advantage and improve to 3-0 in conference play for the first time in four years.

Matthew Gutierrez (11-4)
Don’t be fooled
Syracuse 60, Georgia Tech 58

Don’t be fooled by the Yellow Jackets. Before Syracuse visits No. 1 Duke, the Orange must face a solid team at home, on two days rest. Even though GT is one of the weaker teams in the conference, Syracuse needs a relatively complete performance to win. The Yellow Jackets showed Wednesday night against a really good — really good — Virginia Tech squad that they can play with the top half of the conference. GT’s defense was outstanding against the Hokies, and third-year head coach Josh Pastner will surely have his players ready to at least keep this game close at SU.

Published on January 11, 2019 at 9:29 am