SMU Mustangs (17-7, 6-5 ACC) at Syracuse Orange (14-11, 5-7 ACC)
Syracuse, New York; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: SMU faces Syracuse after Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 22 points in SMU’s 89-81 victory against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The Orange are 11-4 on their home court. Syracuse is 1-3 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Mustangs are 6-5 against ACC opponents. SMU ranks second in the ACC with 17.7 assists per game led by Kevin Miller averaging 6.8.
Syracuse makes 47.4% of its shots from the field this season, which is 4.1 percentage points higher than SMU has allowed to its opponents (43.3%). SMU scores 14.6 more points per game (86.5) than Syracuse gives up (71.9).
The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Naithan George is averaging 10.2 points, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals for the Orange. Donnie Freeman is averaging 16.5 points and 7.9 rebounds while shooting 48.8% over the past 10 games.
Miller is scoring 19.2 points per game with 3.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists for the Mustangs. Pierre is averaging 16.8 points over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Orange: 4-6, averaging 79.7 points, 30.3 rebounds, 13.6 assists, 7.4 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 49.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 81.9 points per game.
Mustangs: 5-5, averaging 79.6 points, 33.1 rebounds, 15.5 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 48.5% 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.
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