Syracuse’s Joseph Girard III scored a game-high 26 points on nine made field goals and three free throws to lead the Orange to a 76-67 victory over the Seminoles at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Girard III led four Orange teammates in double figure scoring, Jesse Edwards (18 points), Judah Mintz (16 points), and Chris Bell (10 points) to gain their eighth ACC win of the season.

Matthew Cleveland earned his 11th double-double of the season, returning to a two-game streak of double figures in points and rebounds. Against Syracuse, he led the Seminoles with 19 points on nine made field goals and pulled down 12 rebounds.

With Cleveland’s 19 points, he has scored in double figures in each of the Seminoles’ last 18 games.

Naheem McLeod scored his career-high of 16 points on seven made field goals and two free throws to surpass his original career high of 15 points against Virginia Tech during the 2021-2 season. McLeod nearly passed his career high in a single half, leading the Seminoles with 14 points by shooting seven for eight (.875) from the field before halftime.

Darin Green Jr. scored 17 points on six made field goals, with five of them being scored as 3-pointers. His five made 3-pointers pushed Green Jr. into sixth place in Florida State’s all-time record list for 3-point shots made in a single season. He is only three 3-point field goals away from moving into Florida State’s all-time to-five.

Chandler Jackson earned a career-high nine assists against Syracuse while earning a career-high 26 minutes in the first start of his career. He neared his career-high in points, scoring seven in Wednesday night’s game.

With less than three minutes into the first half, the Syracuse Orange took an early lead in the game through a 7-0 scoring run against the Seminoles. Halfway through the first half, Florida State gained momentum and went on a 13-0 scoring run over five minutes to give the Seminoles a 27-19 lead with four minutes remaining.

Although Syracuse led the Seminoles 10-8 in scoring for the remainder of the first half, Florida State was up six points, 35-29, heading into intermission.

Florida State held a firm lead over Syracuse halfway through the second half, until the Orange gained their biggest scoring run of the game, leading the Seminoles 16-2 in points over four minutes. From that point forward, Syracuse and Florida State scored 11 points each in the final seven minutes of the game to give Syracuse a nine-point victory.

Florida State had a .388 (26-67) shooting percentage from the field, a .257 (nine-35) shooting percentage from beyond the arc, and shot six for eight (.750) from the charity stripe. The Seminoles scored 34 points in the paint and 19 bench points. The Seminoles scored 16 points off of 12 Syracuse turnovers.

Florida State remains home at the Donald L. Tucker Center to complete the second of their two home game series against Pittsburgh on Saturday, February 11th with tip off at 12pm. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

The Seminoles last match-up against the Panthers was on January 21st at the Peterson Event Center in Pittsburgh, resulting in a 71-64 victory for Florida State. Darin Green Jr. led the Seminoles in scoring with 24 points against Pittsburgh.