UNC basketball vs Syracuse: Score prediction, scouting report for Tar Heels road trip

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UNC basketball will try to bring an end to its road woes at Syracuse on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN) at the JMA Wireless Dome.

The Tar Heels (14-11, 7-6 ACC) have lost five of their last seven games, including four straight on the road as it prepares to face the Orange (11-14, 5-9).

UNC has lost two of its last three games at Syracuse, including a seven-point loss last season. The Heels are coming off a pair of losses at Duke and Clemson in which they trailed by 20-plus points. Those defeats pushed UNC well outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble. As of Thursday afternoon, UNC is included in five of 107 bracket projections on Bracket Matrix.com.

It’s an uphill climb to get back into the March Madness conversation and UNC only has one Quadrant-1 opportunity remaining among its final seven games: Duke in the regular-season finale on March 8.

TIME’S RUNNING OUT: UNC basketball will likely have to win ACC Tournament to make NCAA Tournament | Baxley

Here are some other things to know and a score prediction for UNC vs. Syracuse.

UNC’s RJ Davis is playing his best basketball of the season

RJ Davis averaged 20.5 points in two games against Syracuse last season. While the Tar Heels are struggling as a whole, Davis has played some of his best basketball in the last seven games. During that stretch, Davis averaged 18 points on 48.2% shooting, including 45.2% from 3-point range. Davis needs to keep that up if UNC wants any chance of turning its season around.

JJ Starling capable of help helping Orange crush Tar Heels’ NCAA Tournament odds

Like Davis, Syracuse guard JJ Starling is one of the ACC’s top scorers. Starling is averaging 18.6 points per game, but he’s pushed that up to 26.5 points in the last two games. The 6-foot-4 guard is a bad matchup for UNC’s smaller backcourt and had success against the Heels last season, scoring 23 points in a win.

How will UNC’s post players match up with Syracuse’s Eddie Lampkin?

Colorado transfer Eddie Lampkin is capable of wrecking UNC’s…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/unc-basketball-vs-syracuse-score-090153437.html

Author : The Fayetteville Observer

Publish date : 2025-02-14 09:01:00

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