Coming off one of its best wins of the season, Syracuse hopes to ride the momentum into another strong performance Wednesday night as the Orange visit North Carolina State in Atlantic Coast Conference play at Raleigh, N.C.
Syracuse (10-11, 4-6) had lost six of its previous eight games before smashing Wake Forest 94-72 on Saturday. Buddy Boeheim scored a season-high 30 points and had seven assists while shooting 6 of 11 from 3-point range in one of his smoothest efforts of the season.
“Buddy hit a hot streak there, and they just kept getting him the ball,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, the father of Buddy Boeheim (19.4 points per game) and Jimmy Boeheim (13.4), the team’s two leading scorers.
Cole Swider added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting against Wake Forest after connecting on just 9 of 31 attempts over his previous three outings.
The Orange shooters certainly will be a focus of the defensive game plan for the Wolfpack (10-12, 3-8), who enter with a 1-4 record in their last five games. NC State is coming off its most lopsided defeat of the season — 100-80 against North Carolina on Saturday.
The Wolfpack trailed 11-3 after three minutes and faced a 56-31 deficit at the half en route to the 20-point defeat.
“We played from behind the entire game,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said. “And then I felt like as the game went along, because they were shooting so well, we tried to match some of those shots. And certainly, when you do that, the game can get away from you a little bit.”
NC State wasted a career-high 34-point performance by freshman Terquavion Smith, who went 1 of 9 from the field in a loss to Notre Dame three days earlier.
“You know me, I’m going hard every time I get the chance,” Smith said. “Even if I’m not hitting, I’m still going hard. I give my all to NC State every time I step on the floor. That’s the reason I came to NC State anyways.”
The teams met three times last season — all wins by Syracuse. The Orange won the regular-season meetings by three points and nine points, respectively, before rolling to an 89-68 victory in the second round of the ACC tournament.
–Field Level Media
