Syracuse (11-7, 1-4 Atlantic Coast) travels to Wake Forest (10-6, 1-3) on Saturday at noon to take on the Demon Deacons. The Orange is coming off its first ACC win of the season against Boston College on Wednesday night. WFU also only has one conference win so far and is looking to bounce back from a two-point loss to Virginia Tech on Wednesday. After its game against Wake Forest, SU faces Duke on Monday night.

Here’s how our beat writers predict the game will unfold.

Sam Blum (13-5)
Syracuse 64, Wake Forest 63
Axemen

It’s not only the win that revitalizes Syracuse’s season, but the last-minute nature in which it happens. Saturday will be a grind for SU, but big wins have been few and far between the past month and a half. The Orange gets out in transition and the bus ride to Tobacco Road is a happy one.

Jesse Dougherty (13-5)
Syracuse 54, Wake Forest 51
The awakening

It’s been very hard for ACC teams to win on the road this season, but that’s what Syracuse does in Winston-Salem on Saturday. Devin Thomas is a force inside and a Bryant Crawford-Codi Miller-McIntyre backcourt stretches the zone with good ball movement, but it’s Syracuse’s backcourt that makes the biggest difference in the contest. With teams starting to respect Malachi Richardson more and more on the perimeter, he and Michael Gbinije get to the rim in crunch time to help the Orange steal an ugly victory. It won’t be SU’s best win to date, but it will be its most important.

Matt Schneidman (12-6)
Syracuse 61, Wake Forest 57
Exorcising demons

Syracuse desperately needs to keep the ball moving, both literally and figuratively, as points in transition is where the Orange can stretch this one open. Thomas is a walking double-double down low and could expose Syracuse’s rebounding deficiencies. Still, SU can get a much-needed win against the Demon Deacons if Gbinije stays out of foul trouble and Richardson continues his hot streak on the offensive end.

Published on January 15, 2016 at 8:07 pm