Wake Forest @ Syracuse preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 2, 2019 ) Syracuse 79, Wake Forest 54

If Syracuse is going to have any chance to entertain an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, it can ill afford a slip-up against last-place Wake Forest on Saturday at home. The Orange have lost two in a row and enter the weekend in fifth place in the ACC, which is suffering through a down season for the usually powerful conference.

Following a dispiriting one-point loss at Clemson that snapped a five-game winning streak, Syracuse saw an upset bid go by the board with a 97-88 loss to No. 7 Duke last Saturday. "You want to win those, but we're getting a lot better," sophomore guard Buddy Boeheim told reporters. "Early on in the year, I don't think we would have been able to fight back like that. We weren't balanced; we didn't have the chemistry then, but we're getting better day by day." The Demon Deacons seem to be showing some improvement as well, but the gains are mostly leading to close losses, the latest an 86-76 setback at No. 5 Louisville on Wednesday. They led with under 15 minutes to go before falling to 1-5 on the road in the ACC.

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: ACC Network

ABOUT WAKE FOREST (10-12, 3-9 ACC): After defeating Clemson by 12 points last Saturday, the Demon Deacons continued their solid stretch by putting up 46 first-half points against the first-place Cardinals. "I thought we got off to a really good start offensively, especially from behind three," coach Danny Manning told reporters. "We shot the ball really well." Senior guard Andrien White hit 5-of-9 from 3-point range en route to 17 points and he is averaging 17.2 over his last five games to raise his season mark to 10.1, fourth on the team.

ABOUT SYRACUSE (13-9, 6-5): Junior forward Marek Dolezaj scored a career-high 22 points in the loss to the Blue Devils while junior forward Elijah Hughes - the team's leading scorer (19.4) - had 21. Boeheim is next on the scoring list at 16.3 points per contest and he leads the ACC with 77 made 3-pointers. Freshman guard Joseph Girard III adds 12 points a game and finished last Saturday's loss with 17 points, seven assists and a season-high four steals.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Demon Deacons senior G Brandon Childress leads his team in scoring (15.3), assists (4.7) and steals (1.3).

2. The only other time Dolezaj has reached the 20-point mark in his 93-game career was against Wake Forest in the first round of the 2018 ACC Tournament.

3. Syracuse owns an 8-1 series advantage.

PREDICTION: Syracuse 74, Wake Forest 65