SMU and Syracuse each brought underperformance to the ACC Tournament.

CHARLOTE – SMU and Syracuse are sliding in the wrong direction, but one of them will emerge victorious in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament when they meet Tuesday.

A first-round matchup may be too late for 11th-seeded SMU (19-12), which is on the brink of the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Mustangs have dropped their last four games, losing 91-78 at Florida State last Saturday.

“Some of our veterans had a tough first half,” SMU coach Andy Enfield said.

This seems to be the theme with Mustangs. Problems tend to arise when some of the upperclassmen don’t click.

SMU guard Buffy Miller scored a career-high 32 points, 28 of which came after halftime. He scored 11 points in a regular season game against Syracuse, but the veteran averaged 19.4 points per game this season.

14th seed Syracuse (15 wins, 16 losses) ended the regular season with five straight losses. The Orange defeated SMU 79-78 at home on Feb. 14, which remains their last win.

The Orange are playing under coach Adrian Autry, who is in danger of finishing with a losing record for the second straight season, which last happened at Syracuse in the 1967-68 and 1968-69 seasons.

“This is college athletics. This is sports.” Autry said after Saturday’s 71-69 overtime home loss to Pitt. “I can only worry about today. I can’t get ahead. Guessing is part of it. The only thing I can do is focus on the team and prepare them to win the game.”

Syracuse has won three games since the first half of January.

“Getting back to normal is going to be a little more difficult than we all thought,” Autry said.

Naithan George has led Syracuse in scoring over the last two games. He scored 16 points in the first clash against SMU.

The Orange played Saturday’s game without Kiyan Anthony and Sadiq White Jr., who are injured. They averaged 8.0 and 6.1 points per game.

Tuesday’s winner will face sixth-seeded Louisville in the second round on Wednesday.

–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media