Syracuse @ Florida State preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 5, 2019 ) Florida State 80, Syracuse 62

Florida State dropped to third in the ACC this week behind Louisville and Duke after the eighth-ranked Seminoles fell to the Blue Devils for the fifth straight time, 70-65. Florida State now returns to Tallahassee, where it has won 19 consecutive home games, to face Syracuse on Saturday.

It's a huge game for the Orange, who sit in the middle of the ACC pack and need to boost their NCAA Tournament resume with a quality win after closing out their three-game homestand (1-2) Tuesday with a 79-74 loss to North Carolina State that left them with defeats in three of their last four games. Not helping matters is the uncertain status of leading scorer Elijah Hughes (18.6 ppg), who left the NC State game after 2:33 with a groin injury, although freshman Joseph Girard III stepped up in his absence with a career-best 30 points, a Carrier Dome record for an Orange freshman. The Seminoles come in as the only ACC school with a perfect record at home in conference play and they've done it with an offense that is tied with Notre Dame for the third-most points per game (75.1) in the league, just behind Louisville (75.3), Syracuse's next opponent. Still, it was Florida State's inability to hit from downtown that proved costly against Duke as the conference's second-best 3-point shooting team (35.8 percent) connected on just 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) shots from behind the arc.

TIME: Noon ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT SYRACUSE (14-10, 7-6 ACC): Hughes, the second-leading scorer in the ACC, entered the NC State game ranked fifth in the nation in average minutes played (38.17), with Buddy Boeheim, coach Jim Boeheim's son, sitting fifth in the conference in scoring (16.3). Hughes (61) combines with Boeheim (84) to rank third in the country among long-distance duos (145 shots), while Girard is sixth in free-throw percentage (92.0). Freshman Quincy Guerrier also came up with a big effort with Hughes out against NC State, recording a personal-best 16 points and 10 rebounds for his second career double-double.

ABOUT FLORIDA STATE (20-4, 10-3): Sophomore Devin Vassell paces the Seminoles with 13.4 points per game, the fourth-lowest total in the ACC by a player leading his team in scoring, and he boasts the 13th-best field goal percentage in the conference (49.6). Vassell (11 points) was one of three players in double figures against Duke, with Trent Forrest leading the way with 18 points in addition to team highs of nine rebounds and eight steals. Forrest ranks second in the ACC with 2.1 thefts per game, while Vassell (1.13) and Patrick Williams (1.09) help the Seminoles rank 10th in the country in blocks per game (5.7).

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Syracuse has a 7-4 advantage in the series, but Florida State has won three of the last four meetings.

2. Boeheim is hitting 40 percent of his 3-point shots, 10th best in the ACC.

3. The Seminoles top the conference in free throw percentage (76.9).

PREDICTION: Florida State 80, Syracuse 73