No. 12 Syracuse (24-8, 11-5 Atlantic Coast) hosts Fordham (25-8, 13-3 Atlantic 10) at the Carrier Dome in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 1 p.m. on Saturday. SU is the No. 3 seed in the Portland region and earned an at-large bid after falling to No. 3 Notre Dame in the ACC tournament semifinals two weeks ago. Fordham, the No. 14 seed, last played on March 10, when it defeated VCU in the A-10 tournament championship.

Here’s what our beat writers predict for the matchup.

Nick Alvarez
Rammed
Syracuse 76, Fordham 53

Fordham has won 12-straight games and has a top-10 scoring defense in the country. That’ll keep Saturday’s contest close for roughly a half, but then Syracuse should pull away. Tomorrow’s game represents all that SU can be — a dominant, perennial NCAA tournament host  — while having its trademark 3-heavy, run-and-gun offense carry it to victory. Expect Tiana Mangakahia to continue her year-end award push, Gabrielle Cooper to keep her shooting-streak going and Emily Engstler to return with a solid performance in her first game back, too. In short, the Orange have a lot going right when it welcomes the Rams and barring a historic upset, there’ll be at least one more basketball game in the Carrier Dome this season.

Eric Black
Home sweet home
Syracuse 71, Fordham 51

Last season, Syracuse had to travel to Starkville, Mississippi, in its first-round tournament game and was quickly dispatched by 27 points against Oklahoma State. SU head coach Quentin Hillsman purposely scheduled a difficult nonconference slate of games to earn hosting rights in this year’s tournament, and it worked. That’ll pay off for the Orange, who should run by Fordham in the Carrier Dome on Saturday. While the Rams have averaged the fewest amount of points against them that a Syracuse opponent has allowed this season, SU has the offensive firepower required to beat them. If the Orange also effectively defend the 3-pointer, which the Rams are heavily reliant on, then this game could get out of hand.

Michael McCleary
Just keep shooting
Syracuse 75, Fordham 56

Syracuse got what it wanted all season long: it’s hosting the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Carrier Dome. The Orange have been great this year, and there’s no reason to expect they will stop being that now. It’s only played poorly when a better opponent comes in and forces it, and though Fordham is a good defensive team, they’re not that type of team that will give Syracuse problems. The Orange will just need to play like they have all season, and this should be an easy one.

Published on March 22, 2019 at 9:24 pm