This year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge had looked to be a promising one for the ACC. After winning the first 10 challenges, the ACC hasn’t won this challenge since 2008, but looked to have a great chance this season with lots of talented teams. One of those teams, the Syracuse Orange, made the Final Four last season, but were shocked at home by South Carolina last week and are now a big question mark. They will travel to Madison on Tuesday to take on the Wisconsin Badgers, a team that got hammered by conference compatriot North Carolina in the Maui Invitational Final last week.
At 7:30 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN2 for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Tuesday, November 29, 2016, at the Kohl Center.
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Syracuse feasted on an easy non-conference schedule its first four games, routing each opponent by at least 20 and covering the one lined spread. However, after only putting up 50 points against South Carolina there are some major questions about this year’s team.
Wisconsin’s schedule has been more difficult, but the Badgers have yet to show they can beat anyone that is sure to be a tournament team yet. The Badgers took care of business against very underwhelming teams like Georgetown and Tennessee, but lost by double digits to both North Carolina and Creighton and are still looking for a quality win.
Last Year’s Meeting
These teams both make their living on defense so it’s no surprise that when they met last year, it was a very low scoring affair. Even though the game went to overtime, it ended up sailing under the 130-point total, as neither team was able to crack 30 points in either half. In the game, Wisconsin shot just 41.7 percent from the floor and Syracuse hit a scant 35.7 percent of its shots.
It was amazing that Syracuse was even able to stay in the game though with how badly they got outrebounded. Wisconsin dominated Syracuse on the boards, hauling in double the number of rebounds that the Orange did in the game with Ethan Happ and Nigel Hayes combining to pull down more boards than Syracuse’s entire team. The Orange can’t let that happen again this year.
Matchup to Watch
Whereas Wisconsin is returning its entire starting five from last year’s game, Syracuse is bringing back just two starters from last year and that’s bad news for the Orange. The Badgers are as savvy and experienced of a team as you’re going to find in college basketball and everyone knows their role on the team. Happ and Hayes are the two leaders in the frontcourt, but Bronson Koenig, Vitto Brown, and Zak Showalter are all capable of taking over stretches of games.
Syracuse is still trying to figure out what pieces go where and any young player is going to struggle figuring out how to play in Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone. Tyler Roberson and Tyler Lydon know their roles, but Andrew White III and John Gillon are transfers and still picking up the system.
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If you’re going to back the Badgers, one of the causes for concern is how poorly this team has shot from beyond the arc this season. Koenig and Showalter are each hitting less than 26 percent from beyond the arc and the team has a whole is hitting just 31.3 percent of their three-point attempts. If it wasn’t for Brown hitting 10 of 19 from downtown this season, Wisconsin would be averaging under 30 percent a game.
The recent tradition for Syracuse has been to struggle early but then pull together later in the season and make a run. The Orange are much deeper this year than they were last year, but still need time to gel as evidenced by the loss to South Carolina. Look for the Badgers to win a low-scoring affair thanks to veteran leadership and home court advantage.
College Basketball Odds: Wisconsin 64, Syracuse 55
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