Virginia Basketball at Syracuse Game Preview, Score Prediction

23 days after their first meeting in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers and Orange meet again in Syracuse for a Monday-night ACC showdown at the Dome. Both teams are facing a quick two-day turnaround on short rest after playing games on Saturday and, although Syracuse has home-court advantage, both teams had to travel during that period as the Orange played at Virginia Tech on Saturday night. Virginia looks to complete the season-sweep over Syracuse and extend its winning-streak to seven games. 

Read on for a full preview of Virginia at Syracuse, including details on the game, an opponent scouting report, game notes, and a score prediction. 

Game Details

Who: Virginia Cavaliers (16-3, 8-2 ACC) at Syracuse Orange (13-9, 6-5 ACC)

When: Monday, January 30th at 7pm ET

Where: JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, New York

How to watch: ESPN

How to listen: SiriusXM 48, SXM App 84 | Virginia Sports Radio Network -

All-time series: Virginia leads 12-6

Last meeting: Virginia defeated Syracuse 73-66 on January 7th, 2023 at John Paul Jones Arena. 

Opponent Scouting Report: Syracuse

2022-2023: 13-9, 6-5 ACC
Notable results: at Illinois 73-44 L, at Notre Dame 62-61 W, Pittsburgh 84-82 L, Boston College 79-65 W, at Louisville 70-69 W, at Virginia 73-66 L, Virginia Tech 82-72 W, Miami 82-78 L, North Carolina 72-68 L, at Virginia Tech 85-70 L

When Virginia and Syracuse played for the first time this season back on January 7th in Charlottesville, the Orange had won seven of their last eight games and were 3-1 in ACC play. UVA defeated Syracuse 73-66 in that matchup in a wire-to-wire victory in which the Hoos knocked down 12 three-pointers, including four threes each from Armaan Franklin and Isaac McKneely. That win also made Tony Bennett the winningest head coach in the history of the UVA men's basketball program. Virginia led by as many as 23 points and seemed to be well on the way to a blowout victory in the second half, but behind 19 points from Joe Girard III and 18 points from Judah Mintz, the Orange rallied and made the Cavaliers earn a seven-point win in the end. 

Virginia used that victory to start a six-game winning streak that remains active coming into Monday night's matchup, as the Cavaliers have rattled off wins against North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and Boston College since then and they now sit just one game back from Clemson in the loss column in the ACC standings. Syracuse, meanwhile, has gone 3-3 since then and has lost three of its last four games. The Orange dropped a couple of tight four-point decisions to Miami and North Carolina and then were barraged by three-pointers in a lopsided 85-70 loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday. 

Now, Syracuse is starting to run out of time to make a push towards the NCAA Tournament, as the Orange find themselves squarely outside of the projected March Madness field with six weeks left until Selection Sunday. There are plenty of opportunities for resume-building wins on Syracuse's schedule, including games against NC State, Duke, Clemson, Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest, but Jim Boeheim and the Orange would love to get a big boost in the right direction by pulling the upset over the Cavaliers on Monday night. 

Syracuse continues to rely primarily on the big three of Joe Girard III, Judah Mintz and Jesse Edwards, with Girard and Mintz running the back court and Edwards holding things down in the paint on both ends of the floor. Girard leads Syracuse at 17.0 points and 3.3 assists per game and shoots 38.2% from three at a high volume. Mintz has continued his stellar freshman season, averaging 15.2 points and 4.5 assists per game. Jesse Edwards is averaging a double-double at 13.4 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, but he has struggled against Virginia in his career and that trend continued in the first meeting in Charlottesville, as Edwards scored just four points on 2/5 shooting. Edwards bounced back by scoring in double-figures in four-consecutive games after that, including a 25-point performance at Miami. A critical question for this matchup will be what level of play will the Orange get from their starting center on Monday night?

In the first meeting against UVA, Syracuse got some solid bench production from a pair of Virginia natives, as Maliq Brown (Culpeper) recorded 10 points and eight rebounds and Justin Taylor (Charlottesville) added seven points and two steals. The Orange will need more scoring from players other than Girard and Mintz if they want to knock off the Cavaliers. Syracuse could look to Brown, Taylor, and Symir Torrence off the bench, or to Edwards and 6'7" freshman forward Chris Bell (6.9 ppg) from the starting lineup. But the biggest factor that could change things this time around is the presence of 6'9" sophomore Benny Williams, who missed the first game at Virginia with an illness. Williams has started in all but two games this season for the Orange, averaging 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and shooting 37.0% from three-point range. Just having Benny Williams on the floor could make this matchup look a vastly different in round two.

Virginia dissected the Syracuse zone in the first meeting, as Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman got the ball in the middle and diced up Syracuse's defense to the tune of 11 assists for Clark and seven for Beekman, as they both generated consistent wide open threes for their teammates. It will be interesting to see if Syracuse makes any adjustments to its defense and if UVA can knock down its three-pointers as effectively as last time, as the Cavaliers went 46.2% (12/26) from beyond the arc. 

The Orange could also give themselves a better chance this time around by taking better care of the ball. Syracuse turned the ball over 17 times in the first matchup, including four turnovers each for Judah Mintz and Jesse Edwards. Virginia scored 23 points off of those turnovers, including 19 fast-break points, an astonishing number for a UVA team known for its slow pace of play. The Cavaliers were able to take round one in Charlottesville by having a high level of offensive success executing both against the set Syracuse defense and in transition. Syracuse will have to adjust and improve defensively in order to have a better chance in the rematch. 

Game Notes

• Virginia leads the all all-time series against Syracuse 12-6, including a 10-2 advantage since the Orange joined the ACC.
• UVA has won each of the last four meetings with Syracuse.
• Virginia is 5-2 against Syracuse at the JMA Wireless Dome (formerly the Carrier Dome) and has won the last four games at Syracuse.
• Tony Bennett holds an 11-3 record against Syracuse as a head coach. 
• Virginia is second in the ACC standings at 8-2 and Syracuse is tied for eighth at 6-5.
• Virginia is 6-2 in games played away from Charlottesville and is 4-2 in true road games this season.
• Kihei Clark is seven starts away from becoming Virginia's all time leader in games started and is 34 assists away from passing John Crotty for most career assists in UVA program history.

Prediction

Given how important three-point shooting is when facing the Syracuse zone defense, a key storyline in this matchup will be if the Cavaliers can replicate their perimeter shooting success from the first meeting in the rematch at the Dome. But as Virginia has shown at various times throughout the season and in particular during this current winning streak, this team is very capable of finding other ways to score even when the three-pointers aren't falling. With Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman's experience serving as the zone-buster in the middle of the Syracuse defense, the Cavaliers should be able to find a way to win on the road and keep the positive momentum going as the calendar turns to February. 

Score prediction: Virginia 77, Syracuse 71