23 days after first meeting in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers and Orange meet again in Syracuse for a Monday night ACC showdown at the Dome. Both teams face a quick two-day short-rest break after Saturday’s games, and although Syracuse has home field advantage, both teams have had to travel during this period as the Orange played at Virginia Tech on Saturday night. Virginia is looking to wrap up the win over Syracuse of the season and extend its winning streak to seven games.
Read on for a full Virginia at Syracuse preview, including game details, an opponent’s scouting report, game notes and a score prediction.
game details
Who: Virginia Cavaliers (16-3, 8-2 ACC) at Syracuse Orange (13-9, 6-5 ACC)
When: Monday, January 30 at 7pm ET
Where from: JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, New York
How to see: ESPN
How to stream: fuboTV (start free trial)
How to listen: SiriusXM 48, SXM App 84 | Virginia Sports Radio Network – click here for affiliates
all-time streak: Virginia leads 12-6
Last meeting: Virginia defeated Syracuse 73-66 on January 7, 2023 at the John Paul Jones Arena.
Opponent’s scouting report: Syracuse
2022-2023: 13-9, 6-5AC
Notable results: Illinois 73-44L, Notre Dame 62-61W, Pittsburgh 84-82L, Boston College 79-65W, Louisville 70-69W, Virginia 73-66L, Virginia Tech 82-72W, Miami 82-78L, North Carolina 72-68L, at Virginia Tech 85-70L
When Virginia and Syracuse played their first game of the season on Jan. 7 in Charlottesville, the Oranges had won seven of their last eight games and were 3-1 in the ACC game. UVA defeated Syracuse 73-66 in that matchup in a wire -on-the-wire win in which the Hoos knocked down 12 three-pointers, including four each from Armaan Franklin and Isaac McKneely. This win also made Tony Bennett the most successful head coach in the history of the UVA men’s basketball program. Virginia led by as much as 23 points and looked well on their way to an overwhelming win in the second half, but behind 19 points from Joe Girard III and 18 points from Judah Mintz, the Oranges rallied to take the Cavaliers to a seven- Score at the end.
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Virginia used that win to start a six-game winning streak that will remain active through Monday night’s matchup, as the Cavaliers have since racked up wins over North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Boston College and are now just sitting a game down from Clemson in the loss column in the ACC rating. Syracuse has since gone 3-3 and lost three of their last four games. The Orange dropped a couple of tight four-point decisions against Miami and North Carolina, then were bombed by three points in a one-sided 85-70 loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Now Syracuse is beginning to run out of time to make a push towards the NCAA tournament as the Oranges sit just outside of the predicted March Madness field with six weeks until selection Sunday. There are plenty of win opportunities on Syracuse’s roster to build a resume, including games against NC State, Duke, Clemson, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, but Jim Boeheim and the Orange would like to get a big push in the right direction by taking the draw upset at the Cavaliers on Monday night.
Syracuse continues to rely primarily on the big three of Joe Girard III, Judah Mintz and Jesse Edwards, with Girard and Mintz running the backyard and Edwards keeping things in paint at both ends of the ground. Girard leads Syracuse with 17.0 points and 3.3 assists per game, shooting 38.2% from three at high volume. Mintz has continued his stellar freshman season, averaging 15.2 points and 4.5 assists per game. Jesse Edwards averages a double-double with 13.4 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, but he has struggled against Virginia in his career and that trend continued at the first meeting in Charlottesville when Edwards at 2/5 -Shooting only scored four points. Edwards rebounded by scoring in double figures in four straight games, including a 25-point performance in Miami. A key question for this matchup will be what level of play will the Orange receive from their starting center on Monday night?
In the first clash against UVA, Syracuse got a solid bench performance from two Virginia Natives as Maliq Brown (Culpeper) recorded 10 points and eight rebounds and Justin Taylor (Charlottesville) added seven points and two steals. The Orange needs more points from other players than Girard and Mintz if they want to take out the Cavaliers. Syracuse could be eyeing Brown, Taylor and Symir Torrence off the bench, or Edwards and 6’7-inch rookie forward Chris Bell (6.9ppg) from the starting lineup. But the biggest factor that could change things this time around is the presence of 6’9″ sophomore Benny Williams, who missed the first game in Virginia due to illness. Williams has played in all but two of his games this season Starting Orange, averaging 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and shooting 37.0% from three-point range, only having Benny Williams on the floor could make this round two matchup look very different to let.
Virginia dissected the Syracuse zone in the first encounter when Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman got the ball in the middle and broke Syracuse’s defense with 11 assists for Clark and seven for Beekman as they both consistently generated wide-open threes for their teammates. It will be interesting to see if Syracuse makes adjustments to its defense and if UVA can put down its three-pointers as effectively as last time, as the Cavaliers went 46.2% (12/26) from beyond the arc.
The oranges could also get a better chance this time through better ball care. Syracuse turned the ball 17 times in the first matchup, including four turnovers each for Judah Mintz and Jesse Edwards. Virginia scored 23 points from those turnovers, including 19 fast break points, a staggering number for a UVA team known for its slow pace of play. The Cavaliers won round one in Charlottesville by delivering a high level of offensive success against both the seeded Syracuse defense and in the transition. Syracuse will need to adjust and improve defensively to stand a better chance in the rematch.
game notes
- Virginia leads the all-time streak against Syracuse 12-6, including a 10-2 lead since Orange joined the ACC.
- UVA have won each of their last four encounters with Syracuse.
- Virginia is 5-2 against Syracuse at the JMA Wireless Dome (formerly the Carrier Dome) and has won their last four Syracuse games.
- Tony Bennett holds an 11-3 record against Syracuse as head coach.
- Virginia is second in the ACC standings at 8-2 and Syracuse is eighth at 6-5.
- Virginia is 6-2 in games played outside of Charlottesville and 4-2 in real road games this season.
- Kihei Clark is seven starts away from becoming Virginia’s all-time games leader and is 34 assists away from overtaking John Crotty for most career assists in UVA program history.
forecast
Given the importance of three-point shooting against the Syracuse zone defense, a key story in this duel will be whether the Cavaliers can repeat their perimeter shooting success from the first meeting in the rematch at the Dome. But as Virginia has shown at various times throughout the season and particularly during this current winning streak, this team is very capable of finding other ways to score even when the three-pointers don’t fall. With Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman’s experience as zone breakers in the middle of the Syracuse defense, the Cavaliers should be able to find a way to win away and keep the positive momentum going as the calendar rolls into February.
Result prediction: Virginia 77, Syracuse 71
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