The Syracuse University men's basketball team assured themselves a losing record within Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play on Saturday with an 88-83 loss against Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Orange are now 15-14 and 6-10 within the league. Wake Forest improved to identical records.

Here's what you need to know.

Syracuse shot 52 percent from the floor (28-of-54) and 50 percent from three-point range (13-of-26). In addition, they shot 14-of-17 at the foul line (82 percent). They handed out 16 assists while committing only eight turnovers. That's about as efficient as a team can be offensively, and the Orange still lost.

It's just been that kind of year for SU, where even near-perfect offense isn't good enough to win.

On top of the excellent team performance, Donnie Freeman had a career day, scoring 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Nate Kingz had 20 points, hitting five threes, and Naithan George had 10 assists.

--As good as the Orange were offensively, the Demon Deacons were just as good or better across the board. They shot 58 percent from the floor, 56 percent from three and 87 percent at the line. 

--Wake Forest had 19 assists vs. 11 turnovers.

--Syracuse was out-rebounded 30 to 18.

--Myles Colvin had 32 points while four others were in double-figures for Wake.

--Freshman Kiyan Anthony played just seven minutes for the Orange, scoring zero points. SU did get a bench contribution from Sadiq White Jr., who had 12 points in 12 minutes.

Senior J.J. Starling had only two points. Syracuse did enough offensively to win this game, but it's hard to win consistently when your best players aren't consistently giving you what you need. As you look back at the frustrations of this season, the up-and-down nature of Starling and Freeman will be a big talking point. Starling averaged nearly 18 ppg last season, leading the team.

Only the top 15 teams make the ACC Tournament. Right now, Syracuse is sitting in a tie for 14th with Wake Forest. They are two games clear of Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, so you'd like to think they are safe to get into the tournament, but it's not 100 percent certain with two league games to play.

The Orange will be back in action on Tuesday night against No. 24 Louisville in Louisville. The tip-off is set for 9 p.m. ET. The final home game of the season is next Saturday (March 7) against Pitt.

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