Game Details: Tuesday, March 11, Charlotte, N.C., 7 p.m.

TV: ACC Network

Radio: TK 99/105

Live Coverage: Stats

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2025 ACC Tournament Bracket: Click here No. 14 seed Syracuse (13-18, 7-13 ACC) takes on No. 11 seed Florida State (17-14, 8-12 ACC) on Tuesday night in the opening round of the 2025 ACC Tournament. The contest at the Spectrum Center is slated for a 7 p.m. start on ACC Network with the winner advancing to face No. 6 seed SMU on Wednesday night. 

Setting The Stage

The Orange capped off their regular season Saturday with an 84-70 Senior Day victory over Virginia at the Dome. Graduate student Eddie Lampkin Jr. registered his 14th double-double of the season behind 25 points and 10 rebounds, with seniors Jyare Davis and Lucas Taylor both scoring 15 points of their own. Senior Jaquan Carlos tallied seven assists to lead Syracuse, which had assists on 20-of-31 made field goals. Florida State also closed out its regular season with a home win, defeating SMU, 76-69, on Saturday. Malique Ewin paced the Seminoles with 26 points and Jamir Watkins added 20 points. Jerry Deng contribued 11 points in 16 minutes of bench action. Prior to the victory against the Mustangs, Florida State had lost five of the last six games, including four in a row. 

Leonard Hamilton is the winningest coach in Florida State history and is in his 23rd and final season at the helm of the program. A three-time ACC Coach of the Year, Hamilton has led the Seminoles to 15 postseason appearances.

The Syracuse-Florida State Series

The Orange hold a slight 10-8 edge in the all-time series against Florida State, but the Seminoles topped Syracuse in their lone regular season meeting this year, 90-74, at Tallahassee in early January. This will be the second ever meeting between the schools at the ACC Tournament, with the first coming in 2022 when the Orange eased past Florida State in the second round in Brooklyn, 96-57. Cole Swider led Syracuse in that contest with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

The First Meeting

Syracuse and Florida State rung in the new year on Jan. 4 with an encounter at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center. Five Orange players scored in double figures, but the Seminoles pulled away in the second half to win, 90-74.

The game was J.J. Starling’s first since Nov. 27, with the junior guard scoring 12 points in his return effort. Donnie Freeman notched his sixth double-double of the campaign with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Chris Bell led the Orange in scoring with 18 points in his first game off the bench this season. Kyle Cuffe Jr. (10) and Taylor (10) also reached double figures.

After taking a two-point lead into the intermission, Florida State outscored Syracuse by 14 in the second half. Daquan Davis paced the Seminoles with 18 points, with Watkins (16), Ewin (14) and Taylor Bol Bowen (14) also reaching double figures. Florida State shot 54-percent (30-of-56) from the field while outscoring the Orange 40-26 in the paint.

Starling Starring

Starling is averaging a team-best 17.5 points per outing on the campaign, the seventh most in the ACC this season through his 24 games played. His 38 points from the Orange’s double-overtime victory against Youngstown State were a career high and the third most by any ACC player in a game this season. Starling has scored 20-plus points nine times on the campaign, including against seven ACC opponents. Starling surpassed 1,000 career points in Syracuse’s victory at California in February. The junior guard entered the night with 990 points and hit the 1,000 mark with a floater at the 15:09 mark of the second half. He finished that contest with 18 points. It took Starling 75 career games to reach the 1,000-point threshold, with the last 47 of those appearances coming with Syracuse after spending his freshman campaign at Notre Dame. After missing seven games earlier this season due to injury, Syracuse’s leading scorer has recorded double figures in 15 of his 18 appearances since rejoining the lineup. He is averaging 16.7 points per contest over that span. He has also been a key facilitator for the Orange in recent games, as he is averaging four assists over the last seven outings.

Lampkin’s Recent Leap

On Jan. 25 against Pittsburgh, Lampkin became the first Syracuse player to tally 23 rebounds in a game since Derrick Coleman did so against Villanova on March 10, 1990, at the Big East Tournament. Only two Syracuse players have grabbed more rebounds in a single game than Lampkin – Frank Reddout with 34 versus Temple on Feb. 9, 1952, and Dave Bing with 25 against Cornell on Feb. 8, 1966.

Lampkin’s 23-rebound performance is one of the top 10 efforts on the glass in Syracuse history. The 23 rebounds were also the most by any ACC player in a game since Armando Bacot also had 23 for North Carolina against James Madison on Nov. 20, 2022. Additionally, his 15 defensive rebounds versus the Panthers were the sixth most in a single game in Orange history, with the all-time Syracuse record sitting at 16. He recently grabbed 13 defensive boards against NC State, which tied the 11th most by a Syracuse player in a game.

Against Duke last month, Lampkin Jr. hit another career milestone, as he became the second Syracuse player in as many games to surpass 1,000 career points, joining Starling. Lampkin Jr. reached the mark with a layup at the 2:05 mark of the first half. After spending the first four seasons of his career at TCU and Colorado, where he totaled the first 776 points of his career, he has notched 225 this season with the Orange. Lampkin Jr. reached 1,000 points in his 127th career appearance, the last 23 of which have come with Syracuse.

Lampkin Jr. is averaging a double-double in ACC play this season with 12.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per contest. His 14 double-doubles on the campaign are tied with Jesse Edwards (2022-23) for the most by an Orange player since the start of the 2014-15 season.

Complimentary Contributions

The Orange have gotten steady production from several players in the closing stretch of the season. Over the last two contests, Taylor is averaging 14 points and has shot 11-of-15 from the field (73-percent) while knocking down 6-of-9 (67-percent) attempts from beyond-the-arc. He has reached double figures in nine ACC games this season. Davis has also been a reliable scorer for the Orange in recent games, as he is averaging 13.8 points over the last four contests, highlighted by a 21-point outburst versus Virginia Tech. Davis has shot 60-percent (21-of-35) from the field during this stretch while also averaging five rebounds. In the regular season finale against Virginia, he matched his season high with four assists. Since re-entering the starting five at Pittsburgh, Carlos is averaging 8.4 points and 6.4 assists and has six-plus assists in five of those six contests. He knocked down a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation to force overtime at Virginia Tech and also hit a first-half buzzer-beater at SMU. Syracuse’s bench has also contributed, led by Bell, who averaged 11.4 points over the final five regular season games. He led the Orange with a season-best 23 points at Pittsburgh and has shot 11-of-22 (50-percent) on 3-pointers during those five contests. He also matched Taylor with a team-best 13 points at SMU. Cuffe Jr. has offered another scoring spark in a reserve role to close the regular season, as he scored 8.7-points per outing over the final three games, including a 13-point effort against Virginia Tech.

Crashing The Glass

As a team, Syracuse grabs 37.2 rebounds per contest, the sixth most in the ACC. The Orange boast a plus-3.2 margin on the season and have recorded double-digit offensive boards 19 times on the campaign, including in nine of the last 10 games. Three different Syracuse players have pulled down 10 or more rebounds in a game this season – Lampkin Jr. (17 times), Freeman (seven times) and Davis (one time). Lampkin is second in the conference in rebounding (9.6 per game) and has double-digit boards in 15 of the last 20 outings.

Scouting Florida State

Watkins is leading the Seminoles and ranks No. 4 in the ACC with 18.5 points per contest. He was especially prolific in the final five games of the regular season, averaging 21.6 points while shooting 34-of-76 (45-percent) from the field. He has hit double-digit scoring in nine straight games. Ewin also averages in double figures (14.4 points per game) and is Florida State’s leading rebounder with 7.8 per outing, which ranks No. 7 in the conference. Davis (8.7) and Bowen (8.1) are Florida State’s third and fourth leading scorers, respectively. Davis leads Florida State with 77 assists, with Watkins close behind at 73. Watkins is the top outside shooter for the Seminoles with 53 makes from beyond-the-arc this season. Defensively, Bowen sits No. 4 in the ACC with 42 blocks while Chandler Jackson leads the team with 37 steals. As a team, Florida State leads the ACC in blocked shots (4.81 per game) and is second in steals (7.61 per game). The Seminoles rank No. 9 in scoring offense with 74.9 points per contest and boast the seventh best turnover margin (plus-1.16).   

Tickets

Syracuse men’s basketball tickets are available online (cuse.com/tickets), by phone (1-888-DOMETIX) and at the Dome Box Office (Gate B).

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