GAME NOTES: The Syracuse Orange take aim at their seventh consecutive win when they host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in an Atlantic Coast Conference clash at the Carrier Dome on Tuesday night.

Syracuse most recently tangled with Florida State on Sunday, and had very little trouble disposing of the Seminoles, 70-57, for the team's sixth win in a row. The Orange are a perfect 3-0 in ACC play, and own a 9-1 mark at home.

Wake Forest put a halt to a two-game slide with a 76-69 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday. The win got the Deacons above the .500 mark once again as they enter Tuesday's matchup with a 9-8 record. In conference play, though, Wake Forest is a mere 1-3.

The two programs met just once last season, and the Orange came away with a 67-57 victory in Winston-Salem. Overall, Syracuse owns a 2-0 series advantage.

Wake Forest was able to slowly push ahead of Georgia Tech in the team's last outing, as the Demon Deacons used a 49 percent shooting effort to stay ahead. Although Devin Thomas turned the ball over seven times for Wake, the forward made up for his errors with a double-double consisting of 17 points and 14 rebounds to pace the team in both categories. Freshman Mitchell Wilbekin tallied 14 points, and Darius Leonard had 13 for the Deacons. Cornelius Hudson came off the bench to round out the double-digit scorers for Wake, netting 11 in the win.

Thomas maintained his team-leading scoring average with the 17-point effort against Georgia Tech, and now the forward heads into Tuesday's matchup with a 13.1 ppg mark. He also sports a team-best 9.7 rpg average, and has blocked 17 shots for the Deacs this season. Codi Miller-McIntyre heads to Syracuse adding in 12.6 ppg, which rounds out the only two players for Wake averaging double figures. The Demon Deacons, though, are still managing 70.6 ppg, and are holding their opponents to 68.1 ppg on 43.8 percent shooting.

Syracuse only shot 36.4 percent from the field in the first half of Sunday's game against Florida State, but the Orange still were able to take a 35-22 lead into intermission thanks to a 6-of-11 shooting performance from 3-point distance, and a strong defensive effort that held the Seminoles to 30.8 percent shooting in the frame. By the time the final buzzer sounded, Trevor Cooney was left alone at the top of the scoring chart for the Orange, having netted 28 points. Rakeem Christmas contributed a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Michael Gbinije added in 11 points to go with nine rebounds and five assists.

It's already been a solid season for Christmas, who leads Syracuse in both scoring (17.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.9 rpg). With strong efforts from Cooney (14.1 ppg) and Gbinije (10.0 ppg), the Orange are scoring an average of 68.7 ppg this season. But the real strength for Syracuse lies at the defensive end of the court. The infamous zone of Syracuse has held opponents to a mere 57.5 ppg this season with a 36.8 shooting percentage from the floor.

Syracuse freshman Chris McCullough (9.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg) is expected to miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, after the 6-foot-10 forward was injured in the first half of the Florida State game.

Wake Forest may have put an end to its losing ways with a home win against Georgia Tech, but for the Demon Deacons to head out on the road for the first time in their last four games to face a very strong Syracuse squad spells potential doom.