NC State vs Syracuse -3 O/U 146.5
This should be a fun and early ACC matchup going off at noon eastern! Syracuse is the better free throws, rebounding, assists and turnovers team but NC State is the better shooting team by far. I think the shooting aspect here on a neutral court and the distance from home plays a factor. NC State is only 77 miles from this arena in Greensboro. NC State finished their season great ripping 5 wins in a row. 4 of those games were away and one of them was named Virginia. Syracuse also finished well winning 5 of their last 7 games but most of those games were at home. Now both of these teams are vying for NCAA tournament birth and both will be gunning here. There is one thing that screams out to me and that is how these teams have done away from home. NC State ranks 5th in the country on Haslmatrics away from home at 9/100ths of a point in adjusted effienency better while Syracuse is one of the worse teams away from home at 5/100ths of a point worse than average. Both teams play a bit faster than their tempo shows comparing their seconds per possession. I give the coaching edge here of course to Jim Boeheim but NC State is in a big spot here as well and I think that if you play them, you might have some options at half time. I have this game Syracuse winning 76-74 so I like the over as well as NC State to win outright.
NC State +3 2.5 stars and Sprinkle and over 146.5 1.5 stars
