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To begin the most consequential portion of its Atlantic Coast Conference slate, Syracuse trailed by as much as 32 points against No. 14 North Carolina in an 87-77 loss. Don’t let the final score fool you — the Orange played flat-out bad Monday night in Chapel Hill. But they’ve got one more chance this Saturday to turn a rough week into a monumental one.

SU travels once again to battle No. 18 Virginia, a program amid a resurgent campaign under first-year head coach Ryan Odom. The Cavaliers rank as one of the most efficient teams in the country offensively and defensively. Per KenPom, the Orange have just a 13% chance to win.

Here’s what our beat writers think will happen when Syracuse (13-10, 4-6 ACC) squares off against No. 18 Virginia (19-3, 8-2 ACC) Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena:

Aiden Stepansky (17-6)
Hoo are they?
Syracuse 71, Virginia 88

The Cavaliers are known as the Hoos, short for Wahoos. UVA became a national powerhouse under Tony Bennett through the 2010s, and after a rebuilding year, the Cavaliers are already back to dominating the country. All it took was an outside hire of an emerging head coach to reclaim that standard. Sound familiar?

This current stretch against UNC, Virginia and Duke reminds Syracuse basketball fans just how far the program has fallen. The Orange no longer belong among this elite group, even as the others have grappled with coaching changes, too. The trend will only continue in Charlottesville.

The Cavaliers have just two regulation losses all season, falling by a combined 12 points to Butler and North Carolina. Under Odom, UVA is one of the most efficient offenses in the country, even with its recent subpar stretch of 73 and 67 point outings against Boston College and Pitt, respectively. Still, as the third-best offensive rebounding team in the country, the Cavaliers’ second-chance scoring will destroy and embarrass the Orange.

Sure, Syracuse might get some strong shooting from J.J. Starling and Nate Kingz to start, maybe keeping the game close. But the better team — Virginia — will take over.

Cooper Andrews (17-6)
The slide continues
Syracuse 69, Virginia 83

There was a palpable sense of disappointment that flooded out of SU’s locker room after its loss to North Carolina. One by one, some bearing frowns and others just looking pissed, players left for the team bus that’d take them to their red-eye flight back to Syracuse. This didn’t look like much fun for them.

The Orange are not going to come back from this current slide they’re on — losers in five of their last six games. Their season will further wilt away against Virginia, which has its signature stout defense working like a charm under Odom while being supported by a top-20 offense in the nation, per KenPom.

I don’t see Autry’s squad, which struggles to move the ball entirely, having consistent success against the Cavaliers. The Orange’s inability to get Kingz and Tyler Betsey going from 3-point range versus UNC was a brutal indictment of Autry. At some point, you gotta draw up plays for your shooters, but it doesn’t seem like Syracuse can when it’s going up against good teams. The players aren’t helping a whole lot, either. I expect to see plenty of motionless sets Saturday.

It’d be a surprise in my eyes if the Orange kept this one within single digits. If they do, don’t be fooled. That’d probably mean Syracuse went on another meaningless late run.

Justin Girshon (16-7)
Quad 1 woes continue
Syracuse 61, Virginia 68

Somehow, Syracuse found a way to whittle down what was tracking toward its worst loss under Autry to just a 10-point loss. The fact that that’s a positive just goes to show, as Cooper wrote following the game, how far the program has fallen.

For a season, Virginia was in a spot similar to the Orange. Bennett’s shocking retirement preceded the program’s worst campaign since 2009, making UVA an afterthought in the ACC.

But the Cavaliers did something the Orange might be able to take notes on: They rehauled their entire coaching staff and roster. The move, thus far, has worked to perfection, as Odom’s squad has become one of the best teams in the conference.

Essentially, this matchup is between one of the ACC’s elite and one of its middling programs. Nothing the Orange have done recently has given me any reason to believe they’ll pull out a much-needed win in Charlottesville.

Published on February 4, 2026 at 11:12 pm