UPDATED: March 6, 2018 at 5:56 p.m.

Syracuse (19-12, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) and head coach Jim Boeheim start what they hope will be a long slog through the ACC tournament on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Brooklyn, New York, at the Barclays Center against Wake Forest (11-19, 4-14). The Orange hopes to carry momentum from its first ranked win of the season Saturday over then-No. 18 Clemson in the Carrier Dome to win its first-ever ACC tournament game while breaking a four-game losing streak at Barclays.

After beating Syracuse for the first time in program history in early January, the Demon Deacons tumbled through ACC play and by the end of the season had their athletic director telling reporters things like, “(This season took) a detour, but I am very confident about our future.”

If you want to be aged, some Wake Forest players didn’t realize Syracuse used to play in the Big East. WFU beat reporter Connor O’Neill tweeted this exchange:

Here’s everything else you need to know about the Demon Deacons.

All-time series: Syracuse leads, 6-1

Last time they played: On Feb. 11, Syracuse fended off a 3-point onslaught in the second half to avenge its early loss and beat Wake Forest, 78-70, in the Carrier Dome. Tyus Battle dropped a game-high 34 points and Frank Howard dished out a career-high nine assists to escape 40 combined points from WFU guard Bryant Crawford (24) and big man Doral Moore (16). The loss was one of Wake Forest’s six losses in its last eight games.

“Six 3s?” said Syracuse assistant coach Adrian Autry after the game, referring to one stretch when WFU hit six consecutive triples. “That’s tough. Normally, if you look at those numbers, you lose that game.”

“I’ve never seen a team get hot like that,” said Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. “… (Boeheim) said that’s as hot as any team has been since he’s been here, so that’s a long time.”

The Wake Forest report: The Demon Deacons are generalists. They do everything OK but nothing spectacularly, besides maybe shoot from beyond the arc.

“They have a tremendous offensive team,” Boeheim said.

When heated up from deep, Boeheim pushed his zone out and forced Wake Forest to go inside to Moore, the 7-foot-1, 280-pound center. Moore has rubbed in some polish to his offensive game since the Orange saw him the first time around and finished the season with an ACC-leading 69.1 shooting percentage from the field. Moore generates those opportunities for himself as he gobbles up offensive and defensive boards at rates among the best in the country.

On offense, in the last game, Syracuse freshman forward Oshae Brissett said, Wake Forest defended tighter off the ball because its head coach Danny Manning wanted to eliminate the pair of SU’s three scorers — Frank Howard, Battle or Brissett — who didn’t bring the ball up.

This Demon Deacons team also understands what the Barclays environment will feel like.

“You know the atmosphere is going to be heavily toward Syracuse,” sophomore guard Brandon Childress told the Winston Salem-Journal. “We’ve just got to be prepared.”

How Syracuse beats the Demon Deacons: Secure the perimeter.

Crawford leads a squad that hit nine 3-pointers against Syracuse in their first meeting and 10 in their second. Had it not been for Howard’s and Battle’s career nights, the Demon Deacons might have stolen the second game from Syracuse, and the performance beyond the arc would have keyed it. The Orange defends 3-pointers much better than it shoots them — allowing opponents to hit 33.3 percent from there, the 74th-best mark in the nation, per KenPom.com — but the zone has still allowed different scorers to heat up from the perimeter this season.

Syracuse’s Feb. 28 loss serves as a perfect example because the Eagles hit 14-of-27 triples and bludgeoned the Orange’s zone into submission. Wake Forest has the capability to do the same with Crawford, Brandon Childress, Keyshawn Woods, Chaundee Brown and Mitchell Wilbekin. All five players have attempted 76 or more 3-pointers this season and, excluding Crawford and Brown, hit nearly 40 percent. Wake Forest gets 38.2 percent of its points from beyond the arc, one of the top rates in the nation.
The Orange cannot allow the Demon Deacons to spread its zone and attack inside through Moore. If that happens and your TV feed gets interrupted at any point during the game, it is signaling the arrival of Syracuse’s season’s grim reaper.

Stat to know: 10

Since the ACC tournament expanded to five days in 2014, none of the 10 teams that won on the first day of the tournament have won on the second. Syracuse has never won an ACC tournament game at all regardless of the day, but history is against the Orange even if it does win.

Kenpom odds: Kenpom gives Syracuse a 63 percent chance to win and predicts a 68-65 win for the Orange.

Player to watch: Bryant Crawford, guard, junior, No. 13

Crawford has danced on Syracuse in his two chances this season, dropping a combined 43 points — with eight 3-pointers — to go along with 12 assists. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound combo guard’s range and driving ability make him the Wake Forest player most likely to give Syracuse fans nightmares. Last season, he joined NBA players Chris Paul and Ish Smith as the only Demon Deacons with at least 300 assists by the end of their sophomore season. This season, Crawford has also become the team’s leading scorer (16.7 points per game) and de facto floor general.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Chaundee Brown was misnamed. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on March 6, 2018 at 8:52 am

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR