Orange, Mustangs To Meet Wednesday At ACC Tournament

Game Details: Wednesday, March 12, Charlotte, N.C., 9:30 p.m.
TV: ESPNU
Radio: TK99/105
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Coming off a victory over Florida State in last night's first round, No. 14 seed Syracuse (14-18) meets No. 6 seed SMU (22-9) on Wednesday night to close day two at the 2025 ACC Tournament. The contest at the Spectrum Center is slated for a 9:30 p.m. tip-off on ESPNU with the winner advancing to face No. 3 seed Clemson on Thursday.

Setting The Stage
Syracuse held on to defeat No. 11 seed Florida State, 66-62, on Tuesday in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. J.J. Starling scored 19 of his team-high 27 points in the second half and made Syracuse's final five field goals of the night. Eddie Lampkin Jr. and Jyare Davis both scored 14 points, with Lampkin adding nine rebounds, finishing just one shy of his 15^th double-double of the season. The Orange outscored the Seminoles 44-32 in the paint and outrebounded Florida State by 10 (42-32), but had to hold off a late rally, as the Seminoles cut a 16-point deficit down to just one in the closing seconds before Kyle Cuffe Jr. and Davis iced the victory with four straight makes at the free throw line.

As the No. 6 seed in its first ACC Tournament appearance, SMU received a bye through to the second round and will make its debut at the event on Wednesday night. The Mustangs lost their regular-season finale at Florida State, 76-69, on Saturday despite four players scoring in double figures, led by Boopie Miller's 16 points. SMU went 3-4 over its final seven games of the regular season, with one of those victories coming against Syracuse on March 4 at Moody Coliseum.

The Mustangs are led by head coach Andy Enfield, who is in his first season at the helm of the program. Prior to SMU, Enfield had successful stints at Florida Gulf Coast (2011-13) and USC (2013-24). He made six NCAA Tournament appearances at the two schools, most notably guiding Florida Gulf Coast to the round of 16 in 2013 and USC to the Elite Eight in 2021.

The Syracuse-SMU Series
Syracuse and SMU met for the first time ever eight days ago at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, with a late tip-in from Keon Ambrose-Hylton propelling the Mustangs to a narrow 77-75 triumph.

Five Orange players reached double figures in the game, led by 13 points each from both Chris Bell and Lucas Taylor. Jaquan Carlos added 12 points and eight assists with Starling and Lampkin tallying 10 points apiece. Lampkin pulled down a team-best nine rebounds while Starling added a season-high six assists.

The Orange led by eight late, 72-64, before the Mustangs mounted a comeback in the closing minutes. Samet Yigitoglu capped off a 9-1 run for SMU at the free throw line, knotting the score at 73 with 1:29 left in regulation, and after Lampkin restored a one-point advantage for Syracuse at the line, an Ambrose-Hylton basket surged the Mustangs ahead by one. Carlos split a pair at the line to tie the game at 75 entering SMU's final possession, which saw Miller miss a jumper in the final moments before Ambrose-Hylton tipped in the game-winning score with two seconds on the clock.

Starling The Closer
Starling was instrumental in closing out Florida State in Tuesday's first round clash, scoring 19 of Syracuse's 36 points in the second half. Starling consistently attacked the basket in the game's final seven minutes, tallying 11 of Syracuse's final 16 points while making five of his final seven attempts from the field in that stretch to help the Orange stave off Florida State's comeback bid. He was the only Syracuse player to make a basket in the final 13 minutes.

Starling, who earned All-ACC Honorable Mention honors on Monday, is averaging a team-best 17.9 points per game on the campaign, the sixth most in the ACC this season through his 25 games played. His 38 points from the Orange's double-overtime victory against Youngstown State were a career high and the third most by any ACC player in a game this season. Starling has scored 20-plus points 10 times on the campaign, including against eight ACC opponents and in four of the last nine outings.

Starling surpassed 1,000 career points in Syracuse's victory at California in February. The junior guard entered the night with 990 points and hit the 1,000 mark with a floater at the 15:09 mark of the second half. He finished that contest with 18 points. It took Starling 75 career games to reach the 1,000-point threshold, with the last 47 of those appearances coming with Syracuse after spending his freshman campaign at Notre Dame.

After missing seven games earlier this season due to injury, Syracuse's leading scorer has recorded double figures in 16 of his 19 appearances since rejoining the lineup. He is averaging 17.3 points per contest over that span. He has also been a key facilitator for the Orange in recent games, as he is dishing out 3.8 assists over the last eight outings.

Lampkin's Recent Leap
On Jan. 25 against Pittsburgh, Lampkin became the first Syracuse player to tally 23 rebounds in a game since Derrick Coleman did so against Villanova on March 10, 1990, at the Big East Tournament. Only two Syracuse players have grabbed more rebounds in a single game than Lampkin – Frank Reddout with 34 versus Temple on Feb. 9, 1952, and Dave Bing with 25 against Cornell on Feb. 8, 1966.

Lampkin's 23-rebound performance is one of the top 10 efforts on the glass in Syracuse history. The 23 rebounds were also the most by any ACC player in a game since Armando Bacot also had 23 for North Carolina against James Madison on Nov. 20, 2022. Additionally, his 15 defensive rebounds versus the Panthers were the sixth most in a single game in Orange history, with the all-time Syracuse record sitting at 16. He recently grabbed 13 defensive boards against NC State, which tied the 11^th most by a Syracuse player in a game.

Against Duke last month, Lampkin Jr. hit another career milestone, as he became the second Syracuse player in as many games to surpass 1,000 career points, joining Starling. Lampkin Jr. reached the mark with a layup at the 2:05 mark of the first half. After spending the first four seasons of his career at TCU and Colorado, where he totaled the first 776 points of his career, he has notched 225 this season with the Orange. Lampkin Jr. reached 1,000 points in his 127^th career appearance, the last 23 of which came with Syracuse.

Lampkin, who was named an All-ACC Honorable Mention selection Monday alongside Starling, averaged a double-double in 20 regular season ACC games this season with 12.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per contest. His 14 double-doubles on the campaign are tied with Jesse Edwards (2022-23) for the most by an Orange player since the start of the 2014-15 season. He has fallen just one rebound short of a 15^th double-double in two of the last three contests, including against SMU last week.

Complimentary Contributions
The Orange have gotten steady production from several players in the closing stretch of the season, led by Davis, who is averaging 13.8 points over the last five contests, highlighted by a 21-point outburst versus Virginia Tech. Against Florida State on Tuesday, Davis reached 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field while adding six rebounds. Davis has shot 58-percent (26-of-45) from the field in the last five outings while also averaging 5.2 rebounds.

Over the last three contests, Taylor is averaging 10.0 points and has shot 11-of-22 from the field (50-percent) while knocking down 6-of-15 (40-percent) attempts from beyond-the-arc. He has reached double figures in nine ACC games this season.

Since re-entering the starting five at Pittsburgh, Carlos is averaging 7.8 points and 6.7 assists and has six-plus assists in four of those six contests. He knocked down a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation to force overtime at Virginia Tech and also hit a first-half buzzer-beater at SMU. In the victory over Florida State on Tuesday, Carlos pulled down a season-best eight rebounds.

Syracuse's bench has also contributed in recent games, led by Bell, who averaged 11.4 points over the final five regular season games. He led the Orange with a season-best 23 points at Pittsburgh in February while shooting 11-of-22 (50-percent) on 3-pointers during those five contests. He also matched Taylor with a team-best 13 points at SMU last week. Cuffe Jr. has offered another scoring spark in a reserve role to close the regular season, as he scored 8.7-points per outing over the final three regular season games, including a 13-point effort against Virginia Tech.

Crashing The Glass
As a team, Syracuse grabs 37.4 rebounds per contest, the fifth most in the ACC. The Orange boast a plus-4.1 margin on the season and have recorded double-digit offensive boards 20 times on the campaign, including in 10 of the last 11 games.

Three different Syracuse players have pulled down 10 or more rebounds in a game this season – Lampkin Jr. (17 times), Freeman (seven times) and Davis (one time). Lampkin is second in the conference in rebounding (9.6 per game) and has double-digit boards in 15 of the last 21 outings. His 109 offensive rebounds and 3.4 offensive boards per game both lead the ACC.

Against Florida State on Tuesday, Syracuse's guards were pivotal in cleaning up the boards, as Carlos (8), Starling (5), Taylor (4) and Cuffe (1) combined for 18-of-42 Orange rebounds (43-percent).

Scouting SMU
Miller, who was named to the All-ACC Third Team on Monday, leads five SMU scorers averaging double figures this season with 13.4 points per contest. He missed time in February due to injury but returned to action against Syracuse last week, scoring 11 points against the Orange on a 4-of-9 shooting day. Miller has hit double-digit points in six consecutive appearances. Chuck Harris is second on the Mustangs in scoring with 12.9 points per game and has notched 14.9 over the last seven outings for SMU, which included a 13-point effort against Syracuse.

Matt Cross (11.9), Kario Oquendo (10.9), Yigitoglu (10.4) and B.J. Edwards (10.0) round out SMU's group of double-figure scorers on the season. Oquendo was the leading scorer for the Mustangs last week against the Orange, as he tallied 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Cross is SMU's leading rebounder with 7.8 boards per game (No. 6 in the ACC), Miller is pacing the Mustangs with 5.7 assists per contest, the fourth most in the conference, and Edwards sits No. 2 in the ACC in steals with a team-best 71 on the season.

SMU is one of three ACC teams scoring 80-plus points per outing (81.1), trailing just Duke and North Carolina in scoring offense. The Mustangs boast the second-best field goal percentage (48.2-percent) in the conference while holding opponents to a 41.3 shooting percentage on field goals, the third best mark in the ACC. SMU also leads the ACC in steals (7.97 per game), is the second best 3-point shooting team (38-percent) in the conference, ranks No. 2 in rebounding (38.7 per game) and averages the second most assists per outing (15.84).

Tickets
Syracuse men's basketball 2025-26 season tickets are now available online (cuse.com/tickets), by phone (1-888-DOMETIX) and at the Dome Box Office (Gate B).

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Orange, Mustangs To Meet Wednesday At ACC Tournament

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Players Mentioned

Chris Bell

Jaquan Carlos

Kyle Cuffe Jr.

Eddie Lampkin Jr.

J.J. Starling

Lucas Taylor

Syracuse University Athletics