NC State vs Syracuse Predictions, Player Props & Odds for ACC Tournament – Round 2

• Coming off a win over bottom-seed Louisville yesterday, #10 NC State moves on to face #7 Syracuse in the second round of the 2024 ACC Tournament
• The Orange took both regular-season meetings between the teams
• See the NC State vs Syracuse odds, player props, and predictions for March 13

Coming off a 94-85 win over Louisville on Tuesday afternoon, the #10 NC State Wolfpack (18-14, 9-11 ACC, 2-2 neutral, 13-18-1 ATS) advance to face the #7 Syracuse Orange (20-11, 11-9 ACC, 1-2 neutral, 13-18 ATS) in the second round of the ACC Tournament at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, March 13.

NC State vs Syracuse will be the third tip of four games on Wednesday, scheduled for 4:00 pm ET. Though the analytics rate NC State slightly higher, Syracuse is a slim favorite.

NC State vs Syracuse Odds

The NC State vs Syracuse odds list the Orange as two-point chalk and -122 on the moneyline. The Wolfpack come back as +102 underdogs to win straight-up. The game total of 152 is the third-highest on the board for Wednesday’s college basketball odds (so far).

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Odds as of March 13 at ESPN Bet. Claim the ESPN Bet North Carolina promo to bet on the ACC Tournament.

The winner of this game advances to face #2 Duke at 7:00 pm ET on Thursday. Neither team has a resume worth of an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, meaning both likely need the ACC’s auto-bid to make it into the March Madness bracket.

NC State Survives Without Horne

The Wolfpack had to get through Louisville on Tuesday without leading scorer DJ Horne (16.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.2 APG), who injured his hip in the team’s last regular-season game against Pitt and then didn’t play despite being in uniform yesterday.

The Wolfpack struggled without Horne early, falling in a 23-11 hole and still trailing by one (46-45) in a high-scoring first half. But they started the second on a 14-6 run that gave them a lead they wouldn’t surrender. Casey Morsell (11.8 PPG, 2.9 RPG) finished with team-high 25 points, including a perfect 13-of-13 performance from the free-throw line, where the Wolfpack had a 33-11 edge in scoring overall.

Before the Louisville game, NC State had lost four straight, falling 90-82 at Florida State, 79-70 at UNC, 79-64 at Duke, and 81-73 at Pitt, dropping the Wolfpack into the bottom-six seeds in the ACC and necessitating yesterday’s first-round game. They currently sit 64th in offensive efficiency at KenPom but just 112th on defense after giving up 85 to a bad Louisville team.

Syracuse  Wins Four of Five to Get First-Round Bye

Just 7-8 in ACC play on Feb. 17, the Orange were in danger of being a bottom-six seed in the ACC Tournament, but they won four of their final five games to get to 11-9 and secure a first-round bye.

They were fairly dominant at home this season, going 14-2 overall including a win over North Carolina (86-79). Syracuse’s play everywhere other than the JMA Wireless Dome left plenty to be desired, going 6-9 in true-road and neutral-court games.

But one of the team’s five wins in true road games did come in Raleigh against NC State (87-83 on Feb. 20). The Orange also won and covered against the Wolfpack at home on Jan. 27 (77-65).

Syracuse played a particularly impressive first half in the win in Raleigh, scoring 55 points in the first 20 minutes and taking a 15-point lead into the break. NC State clawed all the way back to tie the game at 83-83 with less than a minute to play, but a Quadir Copeland and Judah Mintz each hit a pair of free throws in the final minute to put the Orange back on top.

In his first year on the bench, head coach Adrian Autry has Syracuse playing a much more up-tempo style than Jim Boeheim employed. Syracuse, which was 170th in tempo last year (including 310th on defense, with opponents averaging 18.2 seconds per possession against Boeheim’s zone), is 39th in tempo this season with opponents averaging just 16.2 seconds per possession (sixth-fastest in all of DI).

NC State vs Syracuse Player Props

College basketball player props as of March 13 at DraftKings. 

Mintz, Syracuse’s leading scorer at 18.7 PPG, has the highest point total on the board in the NC State vs Syracuse player props at 19.5. He scored 20 against NC State in Syracuse in January and 15 in the rematch in Raleigh in February.

With Horne’s status still unclear, Casey Morsell is the only Wolfpack player on the board, listed with a point total of 13.5, well over his season average of 11.8 PPG.

NC State vs Syracuse Prediction

Syracuse finished the season stronger, is healthier, and already beat NC State twice – including outscoring the Wolfpack 55-40 in the first half on their home court. It’s always tough to beat a (comparable) team three times in a season, but all signs point to Syracuse once again on Wednesday night, especially with Horne either sidelined or slowed.

NC State vs Syracuse pick: Syracuse moneyline (-122) – two units

Sascha Paruk’s 2023-24 NCAAM betting record:

• ATS: 19-19 (-1.73 units)
• Moneyline: 3-9 (-8.68 units)
• Over/Under: 0-1 (-1.00 units)
• Player props: 7-2 (+4.93 units)