The Syracuse Orange (10-12, 4-7 ACC) take on the Duke Blue Devils (19-2, 11-0 ACC) Wednesday night at the JMA Wireless Dome.
The Orange wrapped up their West Coast trip with one coming off their best wins of the season against the California Golden Bears. On the other hand, Duke is the hottest team in the country. The Blue Devils have won 15 games in a row and are coming off a blowout win over rival North Carolina.
Duke has dominated the all-time series. In 22 games, the Blue Devils are 16-6. They've won the last nine matchups and have outscored the Orange by 141 points over that span.
Duke is led by freshman sensation Cooper Flagg, who is seen as the favorite to be selected first overall in the NBA Draft later this year. He's averaging 20 points and eight rebounds a game. He scored 42 points against Notre Dame in Janauary, the most points ever scored in a single game by an ACC freshman.
Freshman guard Kon Knueppel is another key contributor for Duke, averaging 13.5 points per game and shooting 37% from 3-point range.
Every conference game is huge for every team, but especially for Syracuse which currently sits 14th in the ACC standings. If the season ended today, they would just barely make the ACC tournament.
This game starts a stretch where the Orange will play three of their next four games at home as they look to firm up their position in the ACC. The other two contests are against Boston College and UNC.
The tip is at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.