Syracuse men’s basketball: predictions and poll for Louisville

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team (9-5, 2-1) heads down south to compete against the Louisville Cardinals (2-12, 0-3), the ACC’s worst team by record to date. The Orange hope to secure its second-straight ACC win before they head to #13 Virginia next weekend.

Tip-off between the Orange and Cardinals is scheduled for 7 pm EST, with the game available to watch on ESPNU.

Here are our predictions:

Dom

Syracuse 82, Louisville 64

You can’t overstate how bad the Cardinals have been this season, having lost their three ACC games by an average of 20.3 points per game. Louisville’s only home wins are a six-point victory against Florida A&M and an 11-point win over Western Kentucky. Even if Syracuse has an off night from a shooting efficiency standpoint, the Orange have way higher upside in this contest and could easily win by 20+ points if the team can just limit its own mistakes.

Mike

Syracuse 88, Louisville 60

Even with their flaws, the Orange should find this game to be an all-too-easy win. The Cardinals’ attack consists of El Ellis playing 35+ minutes a night and near single-handedly trying to keep games close. Unfortunately for him, no one else on the roster has resembled a second scoring option. SU steamrolls past this one-dimensional offense.

Kevin

Syracuse 79, Louisville 64

How bad are the Cardinals? They currently rank as Syracuse’s 3rd-easiest game of the season behind only Lehigh and Monmouth. Louisville doesn’t really do anything well, so as long as Syracuse takes care of the ball it should be a comfortable win. This sets up as a great opportunity for Jim Boeheim to give extended minutes to his bench. Over the rest of January, the Orange will play six of eight games against teams currently in the KenPom Top 35.

Christian

Syracuse 82, Louisville 60

Louisville somehow has a worse offense than Boston College. The Eagles aggressive regressed to the mean against the Orange and the Cardinals probably will do the same. Syracuse got lucky with some tough shots falling against Boston College to grow a more comfortable lead. Again, against an inferior opponent, the Orange should take the opportunity to take high-quality shots and build offensive momentum.

Szuba

Syracuse 78, Louisville 60

This game shouldn’t be as close as the analytics suggest. Louisville is all-time kinds of bad. The only thing it does well is shoot free throws and outside of the center position Syracuse doesn’t foul a ton. The Cardinals should have trouble scoring even against a middling Syracuse defense while Mintz, Edwards and Girard shouldn’t have issue scoring in double-figures. Syracuse wins and Louisville falls to 0-8 against major conference teams.