Sunday night college basketball and we will see the Florida State Seminoles travel to the Carrier Dome to take on the Syracuse Orange. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN U. Current Vegas betting odds have Syracuse listed as 9.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 130.5.
Analysis: The Florida state Seminoles come in off a nice 86-75 win over Virginia Tech. That win was their 5 in their last 6 games and puts them at 9-6 on the year overall, including 1-1 in the ACC and 0-2 in true road games. FSU is 7-16-1 ATS in their last 24 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record and 0-5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a ATS win. The Seminoles have been a decent offensive team this year, ranking 112th in scoring (70.8 ppg), 31st in shooting (47.8%), 337th in 3 point shooting (27.5%) and 281st in FT shooting (65.4%). The defense for this team has been poor, ranking 232nd in points allowed (68.2 ppg), 162nd in defensive FG% (42.1%) and 142nd in 3 point defense (32.6%).
The Syracuse Orange come into this game unranked with an 11-4 record that includes an 8-1 mark at home. The Orange have won 5 games in a row and are 2-0 in the ACC so far. Syracuse is 4-9 ATS in their last 13 home games, 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games following a S.U. win and 1-8-1 ATS in their last 10 vs. Atlantic Coast. Syracuse has been an average offensive team this year, ranking 162nd in scoring (68.6 ppg), 118th in shooting (44.7%), 312th in 3 point shooting (29.5%) and 283rd in FT shooting (65.3%). Defensively the Orange have been very good, ranking, 22nd in points allowed (57.5 ppg), 14th in defensive FG% (36.5%) and 20th in 3 point defense (27.8%).
Pick: I will be going with the Under in this one. Syracuse games are generally low scoring because they d slow it down on offense and they play very stout defense. The Noles will run some, but Syracuse gets back very well on defense and then their Zone Defense makes you use most of the clock in trying to get a good shot. The Zone defense that they employ is a big reason their games are usually so low scoring. It really slows the game down. For the year the Cuse have allowed just 57.6 ppg on 36.6% shooting, while at home they have given up just 51.8 ppg on 35% shooting. FSU will no get a whole lot in this game, while Syracuse is not a team that will score a ton of points. The Cuse have scored 72 ppg at home, but their offense overall has not been great as they have averaged just 67.6 ppg in their last 5 games, while the Noles have allowed just 63.4 ppg in heir last 5 games. This one has the feel of a 65-55 type game.
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