It may have been a chilly, wintry night outside of the Carrier Dome but Syracuse certainly didn't get off to a cold start against Florida State. Syracuse quickly jumped on the Seminoles behind some hot shooting from Malachi Richardson and Trevor Cooney.
The Orange shot well throughout the game with Michael Gbinije leading the charge, scoring 14 first half points on 5-6 shooting but sloppy play kept Florida State in the game. Syracuse's largest lead of the half was 14 but 11 turnovers in the first allowed Florida State to hang around.