The Syracuse Basketball Squad Suffers Deflating Home OT Defeat To UL

This is a tough game to swallow for the Syracuse basketball team. They had this game in the bag, but just couldn’t finish the job.

This one hurts.

Looking to rebound from a close loss at Pittsburgh over the weekend, the Syracuse basketball squad had a ton of opportunities on Monday night to notch its third victory over a top-10 team in Central New York, but the Orange fell just a tad short.

I know that SU fans are sorely disappointed with this outcome. I read as much on a few message boards. However, let’s credit this group with showing a lot of fight.

The No. 8 Cardinals (21-5, 9-4 in ACC play) built a 14-point advantage over the ‘Cuse in the first half, and Louisville found itself up by seven as the contest entered its conclusion.

SU (16-11, 8-6) managed to tie the affair, as a result of some streaky UL free-throw shooting. Then Syracuse had possession with under 10 seconds to go, but graduate transfer John Gillon – as he unfortunately does too frequently, in my opinion – tried to drive the lane against much taller defenders, and coughed up the ball.

We head to overtime.

In the extra session, a rarely used sub for Louisville, freshman Ryan McMahon, provided a spark, generating a surprising seven points.

The Orange clawed its way back. Only down two in the final 20 seconds or so, grad transfer Andrew White III heaved up a contested 3-pointer that came up well short. Senior Tyler Roberson got fouled on the rebound attempt.

A poor performer from the charity stripe virtually his entire career, Roberson missed both, and that sealed the ‘Cuse’s fate in a 76-72 setback.

By and large, these programs proved evenly matched. Each school made 26 field goals and had

More from Inside the Loud House

eight from downtown. The critical difference: Louisville connected on four more from the free-throw line, albeit the Cardinals were a putrid 16-of-30 there.

Really, the killer is that Syracuse got crushed in the second stanza on the glass, giving up way too many offensive boards. UL had a nine-point edge in second-chance points.

The Cardinals also had 12 points off of the Orange’s 15 turnovers.

Those are two decisive factors that contributed to the end result.

An extra defensive rebound or two, and several fewer turnovers, and I think SU pulls this one out. I’ll add one comment here: I know head coach Jim Boeheim says all too often that young guys in great shape shouldn’t get tired.

However, 10 Louisville players saw action, while only seven got minutes for the Orange. When a game goes into overtime, I find it hard to believe that fatigue doesn’t start to set in.

With this gut-wrenching defeat, its second in a row, Syracuse drops to seventh place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. The Orange’s four remaining battles are with Georgia Tech twice, versus No. 12 Duke at the Carrier Dome and on the road against Louisville. Not an easy schedule.

I continue to forecast that the ‘Cuse needs to collect 19 total triumphs prior to the conference tournament to feel relatively safe about securing a Big Dance invite. Which means they now must go 3-1 here on out. Yikes. I’m not a pessimist, but I don’t see that occurring.

"Although, interestingly enough, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi tweeted on Monday night, “With this bubble, two more wins should be enough” for SU to reach the NCAA Tournament."

Hmmm. Okay, I’ll take that.

I would have felt so much better about Syracuse’s present situation if it could have gotten past the Cardinals at home, where the Orange has proven fairly solid, save for that 33-point demolishing by St. John’s late last year.

SU shot a disastrous 24 percent from 3-point range. White, alone, was a mere 2-of-14 from downtown, yet he still finished with 22 points. And, still, the ‘Cuse had multiple chances to squeak out a victory. That’s why this is a tough pill to swallow.

"Check out this tweet from Jon Rothstein, a college-basketball insider for CBS: “Syracuse misses a huge opportunity to bolster its NCAA resume at home versus Louisville. Still work to be done for the Orange in next month.”"

Indeed, Jon, indeed.

I do commend our boys for not caving. They displayed some true grit.

"Said Boeheim in his post-game presser: “It was an unbelievable effort to get back in it. … I thought we’ve played as hard as we’ve ever played. … The game was gone. It was really gone in overtime. Unbelievable effort. You can’t over-sell that.”"

I agree, JB.

The Orange has nearly a week to re-group before it heads south to Atlanta to face the Yellow Jackets on Sunday, Feb. 19. This is a vital clash for SU, but it won’t prove easy. Georgia Tech is strong on its home turf, where it has conquered several ranked foes.

It’s imperative to note that, prior to the beginning of the Louisville tilt, Syracuse held a moment of silence for Fab Melo, who spent two years at the ‘Cuse and passed away at the age of 26 this past Saturday.

Next: The Syracuse Football Team Has The Deepest QB Room In Conference?

The Big East’s Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore, he reportedly died in his sleep while at his home in Brazil. Our thoughts are with Melo and his family, and we sure wish we could have gotten a win over the Cardinals for him.

Home/Syracuse Basketball