CHARLOTTE, N.C. — SMU wants more in its first season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Syracuse got a taste of something good on the first day of the ACC tournament and would like to feast like that again.
No. 14 seed Syracuse (14-18) meets sixth-seeded SMU (22-9) in a second-round game on Wednesday night.
SMU, which received a first-round bye, has work to do to bolster its NCAA Tournament credentials. That’s something that must begin with the program’s first-ever game in the ACC tournament.
“I don’t think anybody is satisfied,” SMU coach Andy Enfield said.
Syracuse edged Florida State 66-62 on Tuesday night, ending the coaching career of retiring Leonard Hamilton.
The Orange avenged a regular-season road loss in that game and aims to do the same thing against SMU. Barely a week ago, the Mustangs pulled out a 77-75 victory against Syracuse following Keon Ambrose-Hylton’s late tip-in.
That type of result had defined the season for Syracuse, which endured numerous narrow defeats.
“We’ve been in them, and I think what we talked about before, we felt like in all those games, we made some silly mistakes or didn’t kind of come through,” coach Adrian Autry said.
SMU trailed by as many as 12 points in that game, while its largest lead was two points.
A few days later, SMU ended the regular season with Saturday’s 76-69 loss at Florida State. The Mustangs have alternated losses and wins across their last eight games.
It won’t be the first ACC tournament game for SMU scoring leader Boopie Miller, who played last season for Wake Forest. He posted 17 points in a second-round victory against Notre Dame and then had six points in 33 minutes in a quarterfinal loss to Pitt.
Miller leads SMU with 13.4 points per game. He had 11 points last week against Syracuse in his first game back following a five-game injury absence.
The Orange received 27 points from JJ Starling in the Florida State game. He scored 11 of the team’s 12 points during a crucial second-half stretch.
“We’re trying to survive and advance another day,” teammate Jyare Davis said. “J.J. did a good job of taking over and we’re all just happy for him.”
Syracuse had four players logged at least 30 minutes Tuesday night. The Orange might need to go deeper in the second round.
“Those guys, they had a good rhythm,” Autry said. “I thought the guys that came off the bench gave us a good lift, as well. But I think this team is really good because we can go eight, nine guys, sometimes ten. That’s a good thing to have. We do have some depth, and I’m not afraid to use them.”
Wednesday’s winner meets third-seeded Clemson on Thursday night in the quarterfinals.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
