Syracuse vs Virginia: 2019-20 college basketball game preview, TV schedule
The Syracuse Orange travel to Charlottesville to take on the defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers in a Saturday afternoon matchup.
TV Schedule: Saturday, January 10th, 2020. 4:00 pm ET. ESPN.
Location: John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA.
Syracuse and Virginia meet for the second time this season Saturday afternoon. Their first matchup served as both teams’ season opener back at the start of November, which will now feel an eternity ago to both teams. Since that ugly game which saw both teams score a combined 82-points and Virginia take an easy victory, a lot of stuff has happened.
No. 18 Virginia is sitting nicely at 11-3, but are coming off the back of a nasty win to another conference opponent in Boston College. Syracuse, on the other hand, has had as bad of a start to the year as imaginable. The Orange are 8-7 and have looked lackluster in any game involving legitimate opposition – not what you want coming into a trying ACC schedule at this time of year. Syracuse’s tournament hopes are now very slim but a win against this Cavalier side would certainly lift the spirits of Orange fans, however unlikely it may be.
The Virginia offense has been a problem for them – which ultimately let them down heavily in their last game against BC. They only made 17 shots as a team, shooting a combined 32.7% from the floor. You can’t be that bad against anyone, let alone conference rivals. Virginia is going to need to step up that side of the game vastly as they too go into a more challenging schedule which will see them play Florida State, UNC, Duke and Louisville twice before the regular season is up.
Related Story. ACC coming back down to Earth. light
There’s no better way to start getting the ball rolling than against a down-and-out Orange side, who just haven’t been able to get a break. Their last time out, they dropped another one against Virginia Tech, courtesy of a big second time Hokie run. In this one, you can’t put it all on them as they did play tough – but at this time of year, and when trying to make March, playing tough isn’t always enough. Coming into the year after losing a number of key plays including Tyus Battle, this Orange team just isn’t competitive as it was last year. Sure, their recruits could blossom into good players over the next couple of years, but this year seems just about done. They won’t give up, in true Orange fashion, but the tournament seems a few steps too far right now.
Saturday’s game could be another slug-fest, as these two struggling offenses try to outscore the other. Opportunities will be there for the taking but with how cold each of these teams has been high percentage looks could have low percentage success rates. For the Orange defense which has struggled significantly more than in 2018-19, this could be an incredibly rough night. Virginia is the best defense in the country, allowing just 47.6 points per game.
What they’re going to need on Saturday is for a couple of guys to get hot and support the Elijah Hughes and Buddy Boeheim. If they’re going to win then it’s a given that they need Hughes and Boeheim to score but they need support from starters and the bench. Maybe Quincy Guerrier gets a few buckets and Marek Dolezaj is able to convert – if they can get a few offensive breaks then there’s certainly a chance that they put a total up that the Cavs won’t be able to match.
The only thing is the Virginia defense is that good and is going to take some beating. The Orange haven’t shown a ton of offensive resilience but that has shown glimpses. If Saturday can be one of those nights when they can get into a rhythm for a large period of the game then there is upset potential.
Virginia has been consistent all season long on the defensive end. All they need is a somewhat productive night shooting the basketball. They’ve got the players to create shots, especially in Braxton Key who is their main facilitator with 5.7 APG. They’re just going to need the likes of Key, Kihei Clark and star forward Mamadi Diakite, in particular, to be able to be efficient in getting points on the board.
Next. ACC Basketball power rankings. dark
It might not be the best game to watch, but there are plenty of talented individuals – headlined by Diakite – which gives this game plenty of attraction to it. It’s a hard one to call, the obvious prediction is that it will be a low scoring affair, and that should be the case, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Cavs can get some separation down the stretch or if the Orange are able to put pressure on their opponents and give them a run for their money.