Syracuse vs. Wake Forest: TV/streaming, time, odds, history & more

Teams: Syracuse Orange (16-14, 9-10) vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (18-12, 10-9)

Day & Time: Saturday, March 4, 5:00 pm ET

Location: JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.

Line: The Draftkings Line is a straight pick ‘em between Syracuse and Wake.

TV/Streaming: Regional Sports Networks (YES in Syracuse) - Click for local stations

Radio: Cuse.com, TK 99/105, WAER 88.3

Wake Forest Blog: Blogger So Dear

Rivalry: 10-2, Syracuse

Current Streak: 1, Syracuse

First Meeting: Syracuse and Wake Forest met for the first time fairly recently in the 2001 Preseason NIT tournament. SU won 74-67 with DeShaun Williams scoring 23 points.

Last Meeting: A scorching hot second half propelled Syracuse to a 94-72 win over Wake. The Orange shot over 62% from the floor in the final 20 minutes. Buddy Boeheim led the way with 30 points.

Photo by Lance King/Getty Images

Head Coaches: Syracuse - Jim Boeheim (47th season, 1,115-440) | Wake Forest - Steve Forbes (third season - 49–38)

Coach Bio: Forbes played his college basketball at Southern Arkansas. His coaching career started at Southwestern Community College, where he was an assistant for two seasons before taking over as the program’s head coach for the next two. He then moved to Barton County Community College as an assistant for two seasons before also taking over as the program’s head coach for three seasons.

Forbes made the move to Division I and bounced around as an assistant with Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Illinois State, Texas A&M and Tennessee. He was fired from Tennessee as a part of the NCAA recruiting violations scandal surrounding Bruce Pearl. Forbes returned to junior college as the head coach of Northwest Florida State for two seasons before returning to Division I as an assistant with Wichita State.

Forbes got his first Division I head coaching job with East Tennessee State in 2015. He won at least 24 games with East Tennessee State in five seasons, winning the Southern Conference twice. His success there led him to take over at Wake Forest in 2020.

Last Year: Wake Forest were one of the many casualties of the weak ACC last season. Despite getting the fifth seed in the ACC tournament, an overtime loss to Boston College resigned the Demon Deacons to the NIT. Wake would fall in the quarterfinals to Texas A&M.

Last Game: Wake Forest let a nine-point second half lead slip as Boston College went on a furious 27-3 run over seven minutes to take a 15-point lead. The Demon Deacons battled back to tie the game late, but a Makai Ashton-Langford jumper with three seconds left gave Boston College a 71-69 win.

Photo by Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Tyree Appleby leads the ACC with 18.7 points per game and 6.2 assists per game. He also shoots the ball from range at a 37.1% clip.

If Syracuse Wins: Syracuse has Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick to thank for another win.

If Syracuse Loses: At least the Orange can’t finish the season under .500.

Fun Fact: For those living under a rock, Syracuse will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 2003 National Championship at halftime and retire Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick’s jerseys after the game.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.