Orange Clash With Demon Deacons In ACC Tournament

Number-eight seed Syracuse (17-14) heads to Greensboro, N.C. to take on ninth-seeded Wake Forest (18-13) in the second round of the 2023 New York Life ACC Men's Basketball Tournament at 12:00 p.m. The victor will move on to face #14/13 (No. 1 seed) Miami in the quarterfinals at noon on Thursday.

SETTING THE STAGE
Syracuse prepared for the ACC Tournament by defeating Wake Forest in its regular-season finale on Saturday. The Demon Deacons enter Wednesday's contest on a two-game losing skid.

SYRACUSE-WAKE FOREST SERIES
Syracuse has captured 11-of-13 matchups against Wake Forest and the Orange have been victors in six of the last seven pairings. The clash marks the second time the two programs have met in the ACC tournament. The first ACC tournament matchup was a first-round pairing in 2018 won by the Orange, 73-64.

LAST TIME OUT
Senior center Jesse Edwards matched a career-high with 27 points and grabbed 20 boards, powering Syracuse to a 72-63 victory against Wake Forest on Saturday. The performance was Edward's 13th double-double of the season and the first 20-point, 20-rebound game by a Syracuse performer since 2009. Freshman guard Judah Mintz chipped in 17 points and five assists, and senior guard Joseph Girard III (16 points) corralled his eighth straight game in double-digit points.

ORANGE LEADERS
The Orange backcourt duo of Girard (16.7 ppg.) and Mintz (16.2 ppg.) average a combined 32.9 points per contest, the second-best total in the ACC. Edwards is averaging a double-double (14.5 ppg., 10.3 rpg.) while leading the ACC in field goal percentage (59.1%).

SCOUTING THE DEMON DEACONS
Graduate guard Tyree Appleby sits atop the ACC with an 18.7 scoring average and dishes out 6.2 assists per game. Wake Forest is the third-best three-point shooting team in the league with a trio of Demon Deacons shooting above 37% from deep.

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