No. 6 Florida State looks to bounce back at Syracuse (Jan 28, 2017)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- As Upset Week in college basketball comes to an end, the Syracuse Orange may have the Florida State Seminoles right where they want them: in the Carrier Dome.
After No. 1 Villanova, No. 2 Kansas and No. 4 Kentucky all lost Tuesday, No. 6 Florida State (and No. 16 Creighton) fell to unranked teams Wednesday. Georgia Tech built a 29-point lead and throttled the visiting Seminoles 78-56 at McCamish Pavilion.
Now, Florida State (18-3, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) will try to avoid its first two-game losing streak of the season when it visits Syracuse (12-9, 4-4) at noon Saturday at the Carrier Dome. The Orange are off to their worst start in coach Jim Boeheim's 41-year tenure, but Syracuse has maintained its longtime home-court advantage.
In games away from the Dome this season, the Orange are 0-7 and have been outscored by an average of 13.3 points. In 14 games at the Dome, Syracuse is 12-2 and outscoring its opponents by 18.1 points.
The Orange improved to 4-0 at home in conference play after rallying from an eight-point deficit midway through the second half to defeat Wake Forest 81-76 on Tuesday.
"We could win every single one of our remaining games if we play like we did at the end (against Wake Forest), if we come together and put our foot on the gas," Syracuse freshman forward Taurean Thompson said. "No doubt in my mind."
Orange fifth-year transfer guard Andrew White scored a game-high 27 points against the Demon Deacons as he shot 5 for 11 from 3-point range and 10 for 10 from the foul line. White, who ranks among the ACC leaders in scoring at 16.3 points per game, and sophomore forward Tyler Lydon (14.3 points and 7.8 rebounds) are Syracuse's most consistent players.
"The key to our season is protecting home court, first and foremost," White said. "So I think if we can come in and compete and make it a game (against Florida State), with all of our faithful behind us, we have the ability to go out and steal one."
The Seminoles rolled into Atlanta having won 14 of 15 games. But Georgia Tech threw a variety of zone looks at Florida State, which made only 20 of 71 shots (6 for 25 from beyond the arc) for a season-low 28.2 percent.
"I think that's every coach's concern: you hope you don't have one of these days, and (you hope) you don't run into a team that's having a great day," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said Wednesday. "It inevitably always seems to happen to every team every year. I hope this is the only one that we're going to have."
After missing 18 consecutive shots during one stretch in the first half and scoring only 15 points at intermission, the Seminoles rebounded somewhat by shooting 35.7 percent and outscoring Georgia Tech by four points in the second half. Sophomore guard Dwayne Bacon scored all 12 of his points after the break to reach double-digits for the 30th consecutive game -- the longest streak in the ACC.
Bacon ranks eighth in the ACC in scoring at 17.1 points per game. Freshman forward Jonathan Isaac is averaging 12.9 points and 7.8 rebounds while junior guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes posts 10.1 points and 4.6 assists.
For the Seminoles to notch their first win at the Carrier Dome since 1997, they'll have to make shots against the Orange's 2-3 zone and resemble the team that was averaging 85.7 points per game before the Georgia Tech loss.
"We can't go back and fix it. We can't play Georgia Tech again tonight," Rathan-Mayes said Wednesday. "So we've got to learn and just move on."
