Syracuse Basketball Has Work To Do Following 64-50 Loss To USC
By Neil Adler
There’s no question, the Syracuse basketball team got punched in the mouth on Saturday. How will they respond? Neil Adler has the scoop.
The Syracuse basketball team suffered its first defeat of the young season on Saturday afternoon, a 64-50 setback to a talented University of South Carolina squad.
Now, Orange fans, let’s not completely panic. No one thought SU would go undefeated this year. We all agree that Syracuse has tons of promise, but it also has a bunch of new faces on its roster, and it is going to take some time for head coach Jim Boeheim and his staff to figure out the best rotations and the strongest road-map for success.
Let’s examine some of the key takeaways in SU’s final game as part of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational.
Probably the chief concern is how the Gamecocks (6-0) outmuscled the No. 18 Orange (4-1) down
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low. USC had a huge advantage in paint points, 30-8. The Gamecocks are a physical team, no doubt, but Syracuse has big bodies as well.
SU cruised to blow-out wins in its first four games, shooting lights-out. This failed to occur against South Carolina, as ‘Cuse only made 14 field goals the entire contest.
The Orange did connect on 40 percent of its 3-point attempts, but only made six from downtown. That’s a solid percentage, but not enough makes for a team that relies on 3-pointers for a large portion of its scoring.
Credit the Gamecocks’ stifling defense. In a victory earlier in the week over No. 25 Michigan, USC held the Wolverines to 19 percent shooting.
Other than sophomore Tyler Lydon, who led Syracuse with 18 points on 5-of-12 from the field, including three 3-pointers, the remaining Orange players struggled on offense pretty much throughout the whole game.
SU has so much depth, that even when a few guys have off-nights, the team perhaps can still find a way to win. But that didn’t prove the case against a really good USC squad.
Turnovers were also a contributing factor in the Syracuse loss. The Orange tallied 11 turnovers in the first half, and 17 in total. Graduate transfer John Gillon had five. SU has to take much better care of the ball against stiffer competition.
Our point-guard play, a nice advantage in our first four victories, did not pan out well against South Carolina. Gillon and starting point guard Frank Howard, a sophomore, had a tough time penetrating against the USC defense. All in all, I thought that Syracuse just lacked a consistent flow in its offensive sets.
Lydon single-handedly kept SU within striking distance, as he rolled off eight-straight points early in the second period to get the Orange within four.
Syracuse had the momentum. Then, Howard, who has shot the ball well so far this season, missed four straight from the charity stripe. That hurt.
The Orange was 16-of-26 from the free-throw line, and that’s too many points left there in such a close contest.
Howard also picked up a third quick foul in the first half, forcing him to the bench. He only played about five minutes before intermission, and we badly need him out there for more time than that.
The crowd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., amounted to a sea of Orange, but that didn’t seem to help SU out. From the get-go, Syracuse players seemed to lack confidence. They looked intimidated and, frankly, a little lost. South Carolina’s defense kept them from getting into any kind of offensive rhythm.
After the game, several Orange teammates labeled the defeat as a “wake-up call.” I think that’s an accurate statement. SU destroyed its first four opponents, then ran into a much better team that punched them in the mouth.
Next: Syracuse Basketball Falls to South Carolina in Brooklyn
No one wants to see Syracuse lose, but it’s how they respond next that will reveal its true character. The Orange travels to Madison, Wis., on Tuesday, Nov. 29, to take on a ranked Wisconsin squad as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
It won’t prove easy by any means for SU to pull out a road win against a great team in a hostile environment. However, if Syracuse can bounce back and at least play well, and keep the contest close, then it will go a long way toward providing some insight into ‘Cuse’s mental toughness.