Syracuse will begin its two-game road trip to the state of North Carolina with a game against Wake Forest on Saturday at noon in Winston-Salem. The Orange (11-7, 1-4 Atlantic Coast) is coming off its first win of the ACC season, a 62-40 drubbing of Boston College (7-9, 0-3) on Wednesday night.

Wake Forest (10-6, 1-3), losers of four of its last six, gets a chance to right the ship at home against the Orange.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Demon Deacons.

All-time series: 3-0 in favor of Syracuse

Last time they played: Syracuse needed overtime and a 35-point effort from Rakeem Christmas on Jan. 13, 2015 to defeat Wake Forest, 86-83. Christmas hit six free throws in the game’s final 43 seconds to come back from being down by nine points in the second half. The win improved the Orange to 4-0 in the conference at the time.

“I don’t mind being in this situation,” Christmas said after the game. “I get the ball a lot. I can make plays down there. I can find my teammates. I just want to help my team win.”

Wake Forest Report: WFU is coming off its worst loss of the season, a 93-91 home defeat at the hands of Virginia Tech. As a whole, though, the Demon Deacons have been a pleasant surprise. They have wins over Indiana – a team undefeated in Big 10 play — as well as UCLA, Arkansas, LSU and North Carolina State. They have lost three games on the season at home, including a 91-82 defeat to Richmond. WFU’s greatest weakness is its turnover margin. It turns the ball over at a 19.5 percent rate, but only forces turnovers at a 14.8 percent clip, which ranks 336 out of 351 teams, per KenPom. Wake is a team that gets up and down the court and has three players that average in double-figures in points, led by forward Devin Thomas at 16.9 per game. WFU was also recently boosted by the return of Codi Miller-McIntyre, who returned from an injury in December.

How Syracuse beats Wake Forest: Syracuse needs to play to Wake Forest’s weakness and force turnovers and get in transition. On the flip side, it needs to protect the ball against a team that struggles to create those types of chances for itself. Syracuse also can’t let Wake Forest use its size advantage. Wake Forest is one of the nation’s better offensive rebounding teams, but Syracuse has been the better rebounding team in each of its past two games. That trend needs to continue. Teams play slowly on offense against Syracuse and Wake is a team that likes to push the pace. If Syracuse is forcing turnovers and making shots difficult for Wake, then it plays right into SU’s preferred pace.

Statistic to know: Wake Forest allows around 36.9 points on average in the first half of games, but 41.9 points in the second half of games. In total it has allowed 590 first half points and 670 second half points. And despite being 10-6 on the season, Wake Forest has been outscored 1260-1244 on the year.

Player to watch: Last year, Konstantinos Mitoglou went off for 26 points against Syracuse on 10-of-13 shooting. Last year, a healthy Miller-McIntyre dropped 24. This season, though, has been all about Thomas, who is averaging a double-double for the Deacons. He gets to the line a lot, and is eighth in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes, per KenPom. While he’s on the court, he blocks 6.3 percent of opponents’ 2-point attempts, which is also among the tops in the country. He’s been a presence this season for a team that has more than half its scoring come inside the 3-point arc.

Published on January 14, 2016 at 10:09 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3