Syracuse at Louisville Under 130
This total is low, but not low enough given the quality of these defenses, situation and matchup.
Both teams rank in the top 25 in fewest points allowed. Louisville gives up 60.8 points a game. Only six teams surrender fewer. Syracuse rates 24th holding opponents to 64.4 points a game.
Syracuse ranks 14th of the 15 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference in field goal percentage. The Orangemen also have the third-highest turnover percentage. Louisville ranks No. 2 in the ACC in defensive two-point field goal percentage and has the conference’s highest block shot percentage. Those strengths play into Syracuse’s offensive shortcomings.
The Orangmen have gone under in 13 of their last 19 ACC games, while the Cardinals are 21-8-2 to the under in their last 31 home contests. The under has cashed in each of Louisville’s past five games.
Neither team will be participating in a postseason tournament so the intensity level should be up as each team’s season winds down. Louisville’s leading scorer, Damion Lee, mas missed 21 of 28 shots from the floor in the last two games after being out with a bruised knee. Pitino said he plans on giving minutes to his younger, lesser-used players since the Cardinals won’t be going to a postseason tournament.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim hired Louisville coach Rick Pitino as an assistant back in 1976. The two have remained close friends. So don’t look for either coach to run up a score, or do anything to embarrass the other.
