Florida State vs Syracuse Prediction 1-4-25 College Basketball Picks

The Syracuse Orange and the Florida State Seminoles meet Saturday in college basketball action from Donald L Tucker Center. Here’s a Florida State vs Syracuse prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Florida State vs Syracuse pick.

Syracuse Orange Betting Preview

The Orange kicked off their season with a string of three straight wins. Those came courtesy of Le Moyne, Colgate, and Youngstown State. Syracuse would hit a rough 1-4 stretch after that. The only win in that quintet came versus Cornell; otherwise, it was losses versus Texas, Texas Tech, Tennessee, and Notre Dame. Following a win over Albany on December 10, Syracuse has since gone 1-3. The win came over Bucknell. The losses came versus Georgetown, Maryland, and Wake Forest for a 6-7 overall record.

In the Wake Forest matchup this past Tuesday, the Orange were looking at a 36-34 deficit by halftime. Syracuse limped to an 81-71 loss after a 45-37 second half. Leading the team in scoring were starter Jaquan Carlos with 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists, and also Lucas Taylor who notched 16 points with five rebounds in 36 minutes off the bench. Also in double-figures off the bench was Kyle Cuffe with 14 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal. Eddie Lampkin added eight points with 10 rebounds and one assist as well.

Florida State Seminoles Betting Preview

Over on the Florida State side, they kicked off the season with a very nice 7-1 run. The only blemish over those eight games was versus Florida on November 15 in an 87-74 defeat. Otherwise, it was victories over Northern Kentucky, Rice, Tarleton State, Hofstra, Temple, UMass, and Western Carolina in that time for the Seminoles. Following a pair of losses versus LSU and NC State, the Seminoles got back on track with a pair of wins over Tulane and Winthrop. In their last game, however, Florida State fell back into the loss column versus Louisville.

Way back on December 21 versus the Cardinals, the Seminoles came out of halftime with a 36-34 deficit. Florida State got even worse from there, giving up 54 second-half points for a 90-76 defeat. Leading the team in scoring was Jamir Watkins with 25 points, three rebounds, and three assists. Malique Ewin added 17 points with three rebounds and three assists, while Daquan Davis had nine points with two rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes of work. Tops off the bench was Alier Maluk, who spent 10 minutes on the court for five points.

Why the Florida State Seminoles will win

• Florida State has won 38 of its last 40 games at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center when playing with a rest advantage.
• Syracuse has lost each of its last four games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• Florida State has won the first half in each of its last seven night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Syracuse Orange will win

• Florida State has lost each of its last three games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• Florida State has lost the first half in each of its last four games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Florida State vs Syracuse Prediction

I’ll lean toward Florida State here. The Seminoles need to get back on track after a loss to a pretty good Louisville team in their last outing, however. It’s also been quite a while (December 21) since Florida State has been on the court, so a hot start here would be a great sign. In any case, back in that Louisville game, the Seminoles shot quite well on 52.7 percent from the field and 8-of-20 (40 percent) from 3-point range. Florida State gave up 50.9 percent from the field on the other side, however, as well as 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from outside and a 29-23 rebounding deficit.

The good news for the Seminoles is that their offense has been quite good all year long. Florida State has posted 72 or more points in every game so far. That said, they’re also prone to giving up big points totals to good offenses. The Seminoles have surrendered 84 or more points in three of the last five games—and all three were losses.

As for Syracuse, they faded in the second half during their last game versus Wake Forest and ended up shooting just 37.5 percent from the field with 18 turnovers. Syracuse is normally a pretty good scoring team this year though, so we could very well have a decent total in this one. All things considered, however, I like Florida State to pick up the cover in the end.