Marquette at Syracuse

The Orange need a win to entertain hopes of making it to the Dance. But, we don't think they'll get it today vs. #21 Marquette. The Orange lost three straight before beating Seton Hall on Wednesday. If you feel the "must-win" nature of this game favors Syracuse, what happened when they had to win vs. Louisville, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh? Granted, the Louisville and Irish games were tough tasks. But they were at home and favored by 2.5 over Pitt in a critical game and couldn't win. Marquette has held their last five opponents to just 58.8 per game, winning those games by an average of 16 points. Syracuse' defense is much, much worse. The Cuse has never been a good team at home vs. very good opponents. They ahve dropped 33 of their last 50 ATS here vs. teams that outscore their opponents by 4+ ppg. Marquette on the other hand is 27-14 ATS the past three seasons in the favorite role and 6-0 ATs when coming off a 30+ point blowut win. Syracuse is 1-7 ATS this season after scoring 85 points last game. Yes, Cuse needs this. But they won't get it.