Syracuse Orange vs Louisville Cardinals Prediction, 3/3/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Syracuse Orange vs Louisville Cardinals

Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY

TV: ACC Network

The Louisville Cardinals (20-8) will take on the Syracuse Orange (15-13) at KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday.

The Syracuse Orange took the court against Wake Forest and walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 88-83 in their last game. When discussing fouls, the Orange finished with 14 while Wake Forest recorded 16 fouls. They knocked down 9 out of their 16 attempts from distance. Wake Forest finished shooting 86.7% when shooting free throws by burying 13 of their 15 attempts. In addition, Wake Forest totaled 27 rebounds (8 offensive, 19 defensive), but wasn't able to put a block in the stat sheet. Wake Forest distributed 19 dimes and had 6 steals in this matchup. When discussing defense, Syracuse allowed their opponent to shoot 57.9% from the field on 33 out of 57 shooting. They also dished out 16 dimes for the game as well as forcing 10 turnovers and getting 5 steals. In the matter of rebounding, they earned 16 with 4 of them being on the offensive end. From the free throw line, the Orange made 14 of 17 attempts for a rate of 82.4%. Syracuse finished the contest having earned a 51.9% FG percentage (28 out of 54) and converted 13 out of their 26 3-point attempts.

Donnie Freeman is a player who had an impact in the matchup. He accumulated 28 points on 9 out of 13 shooting. He was on the hardwood for 36 minutes and also grabbed 5 rebounds. He shot 69.2% from the floor but didn't record an assist.

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Syracuse will enter this contest with a record of 15-13 for the year. They are averaging 75.6 points per outing (192nd in college) while going 46.9% from the floor. The Orange are shooting 33.0% on shots from downtown (196 of 594) and 63.4% from the charity stripe. As a team, Syracuse is collecting 34.8 rebounds per contest and has totaled 361 assists so far this season, which has them ranked 284th in D-1 in terms of passing the rock. They are turning it over 11.2 times per game and as a team are committing 16.8 fouls per contest.

Defensively, the Orange are able to force 12.4 turnovers per game and they draw 18.5 fouls. They are conceding 33.6% on 3-point attempts and they are ranked 170th in college in opponents PPG (73.4). The Orange are giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 43.6% (726 of 1,664) and they surrender 36.9 boards per game as a team. They are 180th in the nation in giving up assists to their opponents with 384 relinquished on the year.

When they last stepped on the court, the Louisville Cardinals walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 80-75 against Clemson. In the matter of how they rebounded, Louisville allowed Clemson to grab 30 in total (4 offensive). They finished shooting 38.1% from 3-point land by connecting on 8 of 21 and finished the game at 24 out of 34 from the free throw line (70.6%). The Cardinals permitted Clemson to make 24 out of 49 tries from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 49.0% for the matchup. In all, the Cardinals went 29 out of 64 from the field which had them shooting 45.3%. When talking about shooting from 3-point land, Louisville converted 10 out of their 36 tries (27.8%). They were able to knock down 7 of the free throw attempts for a percentage of 58.3%. Clemson committed 15 personal fouls for the contest which took the Cardinals to the free throw line for a total of 12 shots. They coughed up the ball 11 times, while recording 5 steals for the game. The Cardinals collected 24 defensive rebounds and 9 offensive rebounds totaling 33 in this game.

Adrian Wooley ended up being a major contributor for the Cardinals in the game. He tallied 17 points in his 23 minutes on the court and had 1 assist for this contest. He made 7 out of 12 in the game giving him a rate of 58.3%, and had 4 rebounds.

Louisville has a win-loss record of 20-8 so far this season. The Cardinals are responsible for committing 18.5 personal fouls every game while shooting 77.8% from the free throw line. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 17.5 times per game (22nd in Division 1) and they lose possession by turning the ball over 11.9 times per game. Louisville has accounted for 2,418 points for the year (86.4 per game) and they average 39.5 rebounds per game. As an offense, the Cardinals are shooting 47.0% from the floor, which is 77th in the country.

The Louisville defense gives up 32.4% from downtown (217 of 669) and opponents are connecting on 71.3% of their free throw shots. They have conceded 12.1 dimes and 33.4 rebounds every game, which ranks them 78th and 116th in college hoops. The Cardinals on the defensive end are ranked 126th in D-1 in PPG surrendered with 72.0. They have forced 12.2 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 41.6% from the floor (57th in D-1).

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Syracuse

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