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Syracuse capped off its regular season with a nine-point win over Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon, holding the Demon Deacons to their lowest point total since December, and ending a four-game losing streak. Jesse Edwards’ 27 points and 20 rebounds led the way, and SU’s zone played one of its best games of the year after giving up 90 points in three straight games.

The Orange now turn their attention to the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, where they have found limited success since joining the league 10 years ago, never advancing past the quarterfinal round. Syracuse will play Wake Forest again in the 8-9 game, with the winner playing No. 1 seed Miami on Thursday. Sitting well outside the NCAA Tournament bubble, SU needs to win its first-ever ACC Tournament to extend its season into March Madness for the first time in two years.

Here’s what our beat writers expect will happen when Syracuse meets Wake Forest in the second round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday at noon:

Anish Vasudevan (22-9)
Groundhog Day
Syracuse 78, Wake Forest 72

Bill Murray’s face of confusion when he realizes that he awoke on the same day should be the exact opposite of how Syracuse players look in Greensboro. Only the wonders of a conference tournament make it possible for this déjà vu scenario, but it’s one that SU can easily take full advantage of.

Simply put, the Orange need to play exactly like they did over the weekend. The defense needs to continue staying active and forcing turnovers, mostly from Tyree Appleby, whose seven turnovers against SU were detrimental to Wake Forest. Edwards probably won’t be able to mimic his record breaking performance, but he can help force Andrew Carr into foul trouble and use pick-and-rolls to get open inside.

Wake Forest is still reaping the loss of Damari Monsanto, who suffered a season-ending knee injury at the end of February. It hasn’t found a sound second option behind Appleby, with Daivien Williamson being the only other Demon Deacons player to finish in double digits against the Orange. This helps SU, which can prepare for another battle against Miami.

Connor Smith (24-7)
The show goes on
Syracuse 74, Wake Forest 72

So this is it. If Syracuse wants to keep this odd, up-and-down season going, it needs to find ways to win this week. First up is a rematch against Wake Forest. I firmly believe that this bracket benefits the Orange — they looked comfortable in their nine-point win over the Demon Deacons on Saturday, and that was when they only hit two 3-pointers. But WF head coach Steve Forbes said his team didn’t play its best, and have plans to limit Edwards and get the ball inside more in this meeting.

Syracuse will make some adjustments, too, and I expect a close, down-to-the-wire game. Joe Girard III, Judah Mintz and Edwards all could be approaching their final games at SU — as could head coach Jim Boeheim — and need to perform to keep this season alive. Girard said after the game Saturday that it’s time for “Cuse in March,” something you can attribute all those surprising March runs to. The zone just played one of its best games all season, and Edwards had been one of the most dominant games a Syracuse player has ever had.

If this is the best this SU team has looked to this point in the season, so be it — but the Orange could surprise some more people and kickstart another postseason run this week. I expect the show to go on.

Anthony Alandt (20-11)
Lost without the pomp and circumstance
Wake Forest 81, Syracuse 70

Syracuse shocked us all when it came out to a fast start against Wake Forest and ended up beating the Demon Deacons to cap off a celebratory weekend in central New York. With Carmelo Anthony and at least 20 former Syracuse basketball players in attendance, the SU crowd celebrated the 2003 national championship and watched the retirement of Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick’s jerseys. The Orange played their most complete game of the season, but basically just left it up to Edwards, who arguably played the best game of his career.

Now, take away the crowd, the alumni, the raising of jerseys, and what do you have? A 3-point shooting team that has plenty of time to adjust to Edwards and a hot-and-cold team that finally won one game to snap a four-game losing streak. The Orange finally played well on defense, holding a team below 70 points for the first time since Feb. 8. I just don’t like their chances of doing that again. As long as Carr doesn’t find himself in foul trouble again, Wake Forest will likely take care of SU and send the Orange home.

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Published on March 7, 2023 at 9:21 pm