No. 18 Virginia hosts Syracuse following Freeman’s 23-point showing

Syracuse Orange (13-10, 4-6 ACC) at Virginia Cavaliers (19-3, 8-2 ACC)

Charlottesville, Virginia; Saturday, 12 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Syracuse visits No. 18 Virginia after Donnie Freeman scored 23 points in Syracuse’s 87-77 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The Cavaliers are 11-1 on their home court. Virginia is the ACC leader with 12.5 offensive rebounds per game led by Johann Grunloh averaging 2.7.

The Orange have gone 4-6 against ACC opponents. Syracuse is eighth in the ACC allowing 70.7 points while holding opponents to 42.5% shooting.

Virginia averages 10.1 made 3-pointers per game, 3.7 more made shots than the 6.4 per game Syracuse gives up. Syracuse averages 7.1 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.5 more makes per game than Virginia gives up.

The Cavaliers and Orange meet Saturday for the first time in ACC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Thijs De Ridder is scoring 16.7 points per game with 6.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists for the Cavaliers. Malik Thomas is averaging 14.9 points and 5.1 rebounds over the past 10 games.

JJ Starling is shooting 44.5% and averaging 12.0 points for the Orange. Freeman is averaging 18.9 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cavaliers: 8-2, averaging 78.6 points, 37.8 rebounds, 16.4 assists, 5.5 steals and 5.1 blocks per game while shooting 43.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.4 points per game.

Orange: 4-6, averaging 77.4 points, 30.2 rebounds, 13.3 assists, 6.6 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 47.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.3 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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