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After clinching its first three-game winning streak of the season on Saturday, Syracuse looks to extend its late-season push for a postseason bid when it travels to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and faces Boston College Tuesday night. The Orange cruised past Louisville 92-69 and a balanced offense, with all five starters pouring in double-digit point totals, was paced by Buddy Boeheim and Jesse Edwards with 19 each.

The Eagles haven’t won consecutive games since early December, and most recently, they lost to Virginia by 12 points on Feb. 1. Six of BC’s 12 losses have been by double-digit margins, and it sits in 12th place in the Atlantic Coast Conference — ahead of only Georgia Tech, Pitt and NC State. Makai Ashton-Langford averages 12.7 points per game to lead the Eagles in scoring.

Here’s what The Daily Orange’s beat writers think will happen when SU plays its first of back-to-back road games.

Andrew Crane (15-8)
Shipping up, and back, a win streak
Syracuse 84, Boston College 71

Syracuse has played its best basketball of the season across the last three games, and it just so happens that stretch coincides with probably its easiest stretch of conference games this season. NC State sits in last place in the ACC. Louisville, with its coach fired and leading scorer suspended, is in freefall. Boston College should be a team that SU easily beats, especially with the way its offense has played over the last 10 days and given that the Eagles’ offensive unit ranks 323rd nationally in effective field goal percentage, per KenPom. Georgia Tech, and BC again, are trending toward two more conference wins, at least on paper.

The Orange shot 50% or better from beyond the arc in both of their games against Boston College last season. Look for their streaking shooters — led by Buddy and Cole Swider — to execute a similar formula in Conte Forum on Tuesday. These conference games, especially on the road, can get weird at times (maybe BC’s offensive rebounding causes trouble?) but this is one that Syracuse should win easily.

Roshan Fernandez (13-10)
Not quite a ‘gimme’
Syracuse 83, Boston College 81

The amount of parity in the ACC right now, and the inconsistency in SU’s season, makes me nervous to call Syracuse a ‘gimme’ in this contest. The Orange have been playing their best basketball of the season over the recent three-game win streak, but they’ve also been notoriously inconsistent in the grand scheme of their season. They had one of the worst performances of the season with a loss at Pittsburgh, followed by one of the best with a win over Wake Forest. SU hasn’t won more than three consecutive games all season, either.

Yet Boston College sits near the basement of the ACC at 4-7 in conference play and 9-12 overall. The Eagles are projected to lose all nine of their remaining games, per KenPom. And Syracuse’s offense is rolling, with all five starters scoring double-digits in the last two consecutive games. Assuming SU can get a few stops and play solid defense for a few spurts, this should be a win for the Orange.

Gaurav Shetty (13-10)
Pre-pandemic vibes
Syracuse 93, Boston College 67

The last time Syracuse was able to string together four wins in a row was in January 2020, right as the CDC confirmed the first few coronavirus cases in the U.S. Virus talk aside, I do believe that Syracuse has a great opportunity to notch an easy win over Boston College this week. After the season the Orange have had so far, every win is much-needed and Boston College should be one of the easier ones. Syracuse has shot incredibly well from 3 in the last three games, and BC’s defense against the 3 is ranked 312th on KenPom.

The Boston College offense doesn’t have the firepower to hang with SU, either. The Eagles rank outside KenPom’s top 300 in effective field goal percentage, 2-point percentage and 3-point percentage. It shouldn’t even matter how Syracuse’s defense plays because the offense should easily outscore the Eagles.

Published on February 7, 2022 at 9:51 pm