Syracuse vs. Wake Forest Official TNIAAM Predictions & Poll

The Syracuse Orange (12-2, 1-0) are on the road for against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-6, 0-1) as they look for their first 2-0 start in ACC play since 2014-15. Wake struggled to start this season, but has since righted the ship slightly, and even tested UNC just the other day.

You can watch Syracuse vs. Wake Forest at 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU/WatchESPN -- unless you happened to make the trip down to Winston-Salem instead.

So what does the TNIAAM staff think will happen in this game?

Kevin Wall

Syracuse 67, Wake Forest 64

The Demon Deacons go 9 deep so I'd expect them to try to push the tempo with pressure defense. Keyshawn Woods and Bryant Crawford do the bulk of the scoring for Wake so it will be up to Frank Howard and Tyus Battle to locate them in the zone. On offense Syracuse must continue to move the ball to create better scoring opportunities. The Orange are only averaging 12 assists per game on the season but they had 7 in the 2nd half against Va Tech. This trend needs to continue in ACC play as opposing defenses will collapse on the Syracuse big 3 scorers.

Ben Sigel

Syracuse 66, Wake Forest 63

I think Syracuse gets it done in a close game on the road. I liked how the Orange were able to open the season at home against a strong Virginia Tech team that returned all five starters. Keeping that momentum going against a Wake Forest team that nearly beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill will be important. SU improves to 2-0 in ACC play to open the New Year.

Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Andrew Godnick

Syracuse 71, Wake Forest 62

Despite Wake Forest's inferior record, this won't be an easy win for the Orange as any road game in the ACC poses a challenge. This will be the first ACC road game of the season for Syracuse, and they will need to make sure they come out attacking rather than settling for threes late in the shot clock like we have seen this year. Tyus Battle will need to set the tone from the start, and he will get enough help from Frank Howard and Osahe Brissett to move the Orange to 2-0 in conference play.

James Szuba

Syracuse 68, Wake Forest 67

Wake is only one game over .500 so it only makes sense that Syracuse will be in a dog fight down in Winston-Salem. All jokes and garbage aside, Keyshawn Woods and Bryant Crawford are good enough to give the Syracuse zone fits. Look for the junior guard backcourt duo to keep things close. This will be the first ACC road test for Syracuse so I suspect a few bumps in the road but ultimately the the zone comes through late and the Orange move to 2-0 in conference.

John Cassillo

Syracuse 78, Wake Forest 73

The Deacons have the ability to score some points, but can they stop SU from doing so themselves? Wake’s defense is likely to decide the outcome here more than the Orange’s likely strong efforts on that end. Much focus has been put on outside shooting, and reasonably so. However, another name to watch is center Doral Moore, who’s a seven-footer to match SU’s own in Paschal Chukwu. If Moore can get going on offense, that could create similar problems to what SU saw vs. Georgetown.

Now it’s your turn...