ACC Quarterfinals: Orange Face Top-Seed Louisville Friday

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No. 8 seed Syracuse (16-14, 9-9) will face No. 1 seed Louisville (27-3,16-2) in the 2020 ACC Tournament Quarterfinals in Greensboro, N.C. on Friday, March 6 at 2 p.m. Friday's game will be broadcast on Regional Sports Network (RSN) or YES Network in Syracuse.

Syracuse advanced after beating No. 9 seed Virginia 67-50 on Thursday. It was a complete team effort to fuel the Orange pass the Cavaliers, as five players finished in double figures. Amaya Finklea-Guity led the way with 15, while Gabrielle Cooper (13), Emily Engstler (13), Kiara Lewis (11), and Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi (10) added to the effort. Finklea-Guity scored a season high and was just three points shy of tying her career high. 'Cuse stifled Virginia on defense, holding the Cavaliers to a season low 50 points, including just three points in the fourth quarter. Virginia's 26 turnovers were the most they've had all season.

Since falling in the Carrier Dome, Jeff Walz's squad has not lost. The Cardinals are currently riding a six-game winning streak, coming off a 70-53 victory over Virginia Tech at home on Sunday. Louisville comes into the ACC Tournament with the conference player of the year for the third consecutive season. Dana Evans is fourth in points per game among the rest of the league, averaging 17.9 points per game. Louisville racked up more individual hardware earlier this week, as senior forward Kylee Shook was named ACC Defensive Player of Year. She leads all conference players with 2.77 blocks per contest. Last season Louisville lost in the ACC Tournament championship to Notre Dame, 99-79.

Both regular season meetings between the two squads were decided by single digits. Then-ranked No. 7 Louisville got the better part of the Orange on Dec. 29, with a 62-58 win at the KFC Yum Center. But it was the Orange who emerged victorious with a win over then-ranked No. 5 Louisville, 59-51, on Feb. 9. It was the first top-5 home win in Carrier Dome history and also head coach Quentin Hillsman's 300th victory. In the win Kiara Lewis scored 24 points, which is tied for her third best offensive output all season. The Orange defense held Evans to nine and 13 points in the two matchups, two of her lowest offensive performances this season.

Louisville leads the overall series with Syracuse 12-7. The Orange and Cardinals have matched up in the conference tournament in Greensboro once before. No. 3 seed Syracuse beat No. 2 seed Louisville, 80-75, in the 2016 ACC Tournament Semifinal. The Orange finished as ACC Tournament Runner-Up and reached the NCAA Final Four for the first time in program history.