Syracuse had a confidence-building start to its three-game road trip by knocking off Wake Forest and Duke. The run concludes in Charlottesville with a showdown against the Cavaliers, who have won their last 14 games John Paul Jones Arena.
HOW THE SYRACUSE ORANGE CAN COVER THE SPREAD
What a difference a weekend makes. When the Orange left for a two-game road trip to face Wake Forest and Duke, they were an 11-7 team that had not won on the road and had a season swaying from one side of the scale to the other. Syracuse swept the trip and returned home a different team than the one that left.
Following a loss to North Carolina two weeks ago, their fourth straight, coach Jim Boeheim proclaimed “we’ll be fine.” That his club could rise from the darkness and accomplish so much of what it had set out to do back in the fall. Since that day the Orange haven’t lost and picked up a huge win at Duke on Saturday.
Syracuse’s last three opponents have averaged 51 points. That string began against an awful Boston College team, so that one gets a pass. The Orange showed against Wake and Duke that an active zone defense could have a hand in opponent’s bad shooting. Wake shot just 32 percent from the floor and the Blue Devils couldn’t do much better at 37 percent.
The Orange still has Virginia, Notre Dame, Louisville, Pitt and North Carolina looming in their last 10 games. Now they can enter that stretch, which includes a four-game home stand, with a different mindset than the one they entered last weekend with.
HOW THE VIRGINIA CAVALIERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
After losing three of their past four games, Virginia’s seniors called a players-only meeting the day before Tuesday night’s win over Clemson. It was a pep talk, senior forward Anthony Gill said, designed to give confidence in a team that still believes it can reach all the goals it set before the season.
Maybe it was that meeting. Maybe it was playing at home. Maybe it was just bound to happen at some point. But Tuesday night, Virginia’s defense appeared to get back to doing the things that helped the Cavaliers win ACC regular season titles the past two seasons.
And the offense, particularly senior star Malcolm Brogdon, got back to being patient. He scored 20 points Tuesday hitting on 7 of 11 from the floor. The patience paid off, and not just in Brogdons’ numbers. After hitting 39.3 percent of its shots in a loss to Florida State, Virginia connected on 54.3 percent in the Clemson win.
But under coach Tony Bennett, the focus is defense and against the Tigers, Virginia showed signs of getting back to being the dominant team at that end of the floor. The offense feeds off the aggressiveness, and when the D plays well, the O falls into place.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
Syracuse’s win at Duke was nice, but, let’s face it, the Blue Devils aren’t the same team that we’re used to seeing under Coach K. Pulling out a win on the road against Virginia might be what turns the season around for the Orange. They dug themselves a deep hole with an inconsistent offense, weak low-post game and short bench. Those are elements that don’t get repaired over night. The Cavaliers are a feisty group that thrives on playing defense and the senior leaders stepped up by calling a team meeting when they noticed things weren’t going right. The problem was solved – at least for one night. The Cavs will pressure Syracuse into bad shots and turnovers, turn those into easy buckets on the other end and take the Orange out of their game. The disruptive behavior will be a factor in Virginia extending its home court winning streak to 15 games.
Virginia 69, Syracuse 63
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The matchup between the Syracuse Orange and Virginia Cavaliers will go down Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 12 p.m. ET at John Paul Jones Arena. The matchup will be televised live on ESPN.
