No. 10 Virginia Tech braces for Syracuse's road prowess

While No. 10 Virginia Tech finds itself in a minor rough patch, Syracuse might be playing its best basketball of the season.

The Hokies look to rebound from their latest defeat by remaining perfect at home Saturday night against the Orange, who will be aiming for a fourth consecutive victory on the road and overall.

Losing to rival Virginia and North Carolina is hardly embarrassing, but doing so by a combined 43 points might be. Especially, if Virginia Tech (15-3, 4-2 ACC) wants to be a serious contender in the ACC.

The Hokies managed to bounce back from an 81-59 loss at then-No. 4 Virginia on Jan. 15 by rolling to an 87-71 home victory over Wake Forest four days later. However, they took another step back with Monday's 103-82 defeat at the 11th-ranked Tar Heels.

Each of Virginia Tech's losses this season have come on the road, although coach Buzz Williams doesn't want his team concerned about venues or opponents.

"You can get real caught up in who do you play, where do you play," Williams told the team's official website. "We've got to do today. ... 'Well, now we're at home, and when we're at home we automatically win.' You can't get into all that."

What's fact is that the Hokies will try to go 11-0 at home for the first time since winning their opening 14 home games during the 2009-10 season. Virginia Tech is averaging 83.8 points and shooting 53.0 percent at home, compared to 63.8 and 40.1 percent on the road, where it is 1-3.

Syracuse (14-5, 5-1), though, will be the toughest foe to visit Blacksburg so far this season. The Orange have defeated then-No. 16 Ohio State, Notre Dame and then-No.1 Duke to open with three straight road wins for the first time since starting 6-0 away from home in 2013-14.

"We're confident overall right now," Syracuse senior guard Frank Howard said on the school's official website. "We're just playing good basketball and we leave everything on the court. We just understand everything is a dogfight right now."

Since joining the ACC, Syracuse has won five of six games against the Hokies, although that lone defeat came at Virginia Tech in January 2017. If the Hokies are to earn a second consecutive home victory in the series, they'll likely need to defend the perimeter well, considering the Orange are shooting 45.7 percent (37 of 81) from 3-point range while winning their last three.

They made a season-high 14 3-pointers during Thursday's 73-53 home rout of Miami.

"If the other teams are going to play zone, you have to make some shots," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "That's just the way it is."

Junior forward Elijah Hughes matched season highs with six makes from beyond the arc and 22 points against the Hurricanes. He's averaging 20.0 points while shooting 45.2 percent from beyond the arc on the road in 2018-19.

Virginia Tech's Kerry Blackshear Jr. posted 19 points and a career-high 17 rebounds against North Carolina, but he had just four of each in a 68-56 loss at Syracuse in the teams' lone meeting last season.

--Field Level Media