The No. 18 Virginia Cavaliers (19-3, 8-2 ACC) enter a sold-out John Paul Jones Arena Saturday at noon with a third straight win. Starting from New York are the Syracuse Orange (13-10, 4-6, ACC), who have lost five of their last six games and find themselves in the bottom half of the ACC standings.
Even with the current situation, the Orange still have a lot to prepare for and have had some solid performances this year that show they have the ability to hang in there in this one.
Earlier this year, Adrian Autry’s team played a full forty minutes against one of the best teams in the country. Houston prevailed in overtime, but Syracuse played a complete game and had six players perform solidly, all scoring in double digits. That’s unheard of in a Houston defense. They also represented the ACC in this year’s CC/SEC Challenge, defeating a strong Tennessee team with a score of 62-60.
Simply put, the Orange are a team that can upset a top-25 team on the road or lose to a team like Hofstra at home. You never know what you’re going to get on this team, but it’s been more of the latter lately.
Virginia enters this game as a double-digit favorite for the fourth straight game.
I have two keys to Virginia and a prediction for this one.
There is no simple bucket
There are 365 Division I college basketball programs. The Syracuse Orange ranks 364th nationally in team free throw percentage. They are 0.1 percentage points away from tying Appalachian State for the worst free throw shooting percentage. latitude.
That being said, they are very sturdy in and around the paint. Nate Kinz is the only player who might take more three-point attempts than two-pointers on Saturday. Their guards like to drive to the basket and their frontcourt players like to play close to the basket. They shot nearly 55 percent from inside the three-point line and will look to take advantage of their accuracy against Virginia.
As we all know, Virginia is no stranger to foul play. The Cavaliers are being whistled an average of 19 times per game, which is an area where most teams are improving heading into the postseason. That said, it might be in their best interest to start improving after this game.
Now, Virginia has committed a lot of touch, hasty, ill-advised fouls over the past few games that need to be addressed, but with one smart foul, Virginia will force the Orange to score from the free throw line on Saturday instead of giving up an easy layup.
Behind the arc revival
Syracuse will be stunned by the number of 3-pointers Virginia attempts on Saturday. Virginia is taking more than 28 shots per game, nearly 10 more than Syracuse’s opponents average when they see the Orange. Virginia has emerged with some solid defensive teams this year; they have yet to give up their share of 3-point attempts.
The key for the Hoos will be to take the efficiency they showed earlier in the season in this game and use it as a catalyst for the rest of the year. We saw some of their early-season success in their last game against Pittsburgh, where they hit 11 3-pointers and shot 35% from 3-point range, but that was 0-7 from 3-point range with one of their best players, Jacari White.
It’s only a matter of time before this unit makes noise from behind the arc again.
prophecy
Virginia 81 Syracuse 66