Six of Syracuse’s eight wins have come at home although the Orange are 4-4 against the college basketball odds at home. Florida State is 1-3 on the road and averaging 64.3 points in those games although the Seminoles did open 2022 with an 83-81 conference win at North Carolina State.
FSU was just 4-of-30 from 3-point range in a 63-60 loss to Syracuse on December 4.
Florida State came into the season pushing Duke as the favorite to win the ACC title however in the latest odds to win the conference championship the Seminoles (+1800) are seventh while Syracuse (+5000) is tied for eighth.
Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim’s odds to win the National Player of the Year award have jumped to +4000.
Game: Florida State (9-5) at Syracuse (8-8)
Location: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York
Day/Time: Saturday, January 15, 3 p.m. ET
Television: ESPN
Florida State Seminoles at Syracuse Orange
All Hands on Deck for Florida State
There are teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference and across the nation who are doomed to lose if their top two or three players aren’t at the top of their games.
If the last few games have proven nothing else, they have shown that the Seminoles will be relying on more than just a couple of key contributors.
That was never more evident than in a win over a Miami team that was coming off an upset of Duke. Only two Florida State starters scored in double figures but the Seminoles’ reserves outscored Miami’s non-starters 25-0 to pick up the 65-64 win. Freshman Matthew Cleveland led the FSU reserves as he scored a team-high 15 points.
RayQuan Evans hits a pair of FT's w/ 0.8 left to give Florida State a 65-64 lead over Miami (FL).
— Tomahawk Nation (@TomahawkNation) January 12, 2022
Production off the bench is nothing new for the Seminoles. Florida State has the edge in bench scoring in four of the five ACC games including outscoring Syracuse’s reserves 25-1 and then kicking off 2022 with a 35-9 advantage in bench points in the 83-81 win at North Carolina State.
Florida State has 147 bench points in five conference games compared to just 69 for its opponents.
Cleveland is the third-leading scorer for Florida State with an average of 10.8 points per game despite not starting any games. Cam’Ron Fletcher, Naheem McLeod, Wyatt Wilkes and Jalen Warley are other reserves averaging more than 10 minutes per game.
Florida State has failed to cover against the college basketball spreads in seven of its last nine games.
Closing Out Games Problem for Syracuse
In a span of less than a week, the Syracuse Orange picked up a thrilling double-overtime win over Indiana in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and then defeated Florida State in its conference opener in a contest that could either be viewed as a defensive showdown or a display of woeful shooting.
The Orange had to be feeling pretty good about their ability to emerge victorious in games that could have gone either way but it has been a different story since.
Syracuse is 3-5 in its last eight games including three straight losses by five points or less.
It started against Virginia when the Orange took a lead early in the second half but the Cavaliers played with the lead most of the way down the stretch and won by five points.
The Orange led Miami by 14 points at halftime only to see that advantage disappear five minutes into the second half. The Hurricanes led by six points with a minute to play with a late Syracuse three-pointer only resulting in a one-point loss for the Orange. Then in a game featuring 11 ties and 11 lead changes, it was Wake Forest coming away with a three-time win in overtime.
Syracuse heads into the rematch with FSU knowing that it could very well be challenging Miami, Notre Dame, Duke and North Carolina for the ACC lead instead of being tied for ninth.
Syracuse snapped a three-game losing streak with a 77-61 win against Pittsburgh although the Orange have covered against the Las Vegas odds in their last three games
Florida State Looks To Turn Up Pressure
Illinois is second in the Big Ten with 147 3-pointers while Michigan has made a conference-ow 87 3-pointers. Illinois had a stretch of six consecutive games with double-digit 3-pointers made but has averaged just seven treys over the last three games.
Syracuse is 8-1 against the spread in its last nine games against ACC foes.
Something to consider for those who bet online, Florida State has failed to cover in its last six road games.
While the teams aren’t expected to go a combined 13-for-60 from 3-point range as they did in the first meeting of the season, the total of 149½ certainly is an intriguing number considering that the teams combined for 123 points just over a month ago.
