Syracuse Basketball: Frank Howard not enough in loss to NC State on the road

Despite a season-high from Frank Howard, the Syracuse basketball squad collapsed in the second half vs the NC State Wolfpack.

The Syracuse basketball squad had a golden opportnity to add some juice to their tournament resume with a road win vs NC State, but they let it slip through their fingers in the second half. Here’s how it all played out:

Something we knew heading into this game was that the NC State Wolfpack liked to press and by design that would increase the tempo and pace of the game.

Speaking of pace, it was uber important for Frank Howard to get off to a good start. Over the past two games, Howard has scored a combined three points on 1-of-11 shooting from the field.

Frank matched that total with the first points of the game for Syracuse with the long ball.

Despite his opening three-pointer, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim didn’t wait long to pull the trigger and switch his starting lineup. His preferred lineup appears to be Tyus Battle running the point, Buddy Boeheim at the two, Elijah Hughes at the three, Oshae Brissett at the four, and Marek Dolezaj at the five.

Dolezaj can’t play a lot at the center position, the ACC has too many good big men that can push him around. But in spots can really space the floor and quite frankly he just brings some movement that Paschal Chukwu can’t provide.

Then the Orange just got stone cold missing 9 of their 10 attempts during a stretch near the halfway mark of the first half. A lot of those struggles being from similar issues: complacency with shot selection, sloppy turnovers, and silly fouls.

The foul trouble got so bad (seven fouls in the first 13 minutes) with Tyus Battle getting two and Oshae Brissett getting three, that Boeheim was really flirting with different lineups featuring Jalen Carey and Bourama Sidibe. Carey and Sidibe have essentially been banished to the bench as of late, so this was a real prove it opportunity for both of these players.

Just when it looked like NC State would run away in the first half, the Orange made a late rally in the waning moments of the first half with an 11-0 run to pull within one (28-27).

Ultimately after the first stanza, it was 30-27 with the Wolfpack holding the narrow lead.

First-half takeaways:

• Foul trouble something to watch moving forward (11 fouls). Robert Braswell made an appearance in the first half. While he obviously still needs to develop physically, he showed some prowess with his defensive awareness getting two steals and providing some nice opportunities for Syracuse. For context, Braswell had averaged just five minutes per contest heading in, only appearing in eight games (now nine) so far this season.
• Frank Howard had three turnovers and really struggled throughout the first half with a lot of the same issues that have plagued him all season, but specifically over the last two games.
• Speaking of turnovers:
  • NC State had 12 turnovers in the first half, which Syracuse was able to turn into 13 points.
  • While the Orange had seven turnovers that the Wolfpack converted into only five points on the other end.
• Overall just BAAAAAD offense from the Orange:
  • 9-of-29 from the field.
  • Just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc.
• While the Syracuse defense was GOOOOD:
  • The Orange 2-3 zone held the Wolfpack without a field goal for the final 4:31 of the first half.

Second half

Bourama Sidibe got the start in the second half and made an impact immediately. Got a rebound and then got a wide-open slam on a great dish from Oshae Brissett.

After a somewhat sloppy first-half, Frank Howard came out of the second-half guns a blazing. In less than a 30-second span, Howard drilled a three-pointer and made a jumper to pad his scoring totals.

Someone else who was feeling it was Braxton Beverly who knocked down a three-pointer from a different area code. (his fourth of the game with 16 minutes remaining in the game). I’m pretty sure that would’ve been considered a four-pointer in the BIG-3 league run by Ice Cube, but I digress.

That sparked a 14-0 run in a span of three minutes early in the second half by NC State to open this one up to a 49-34 lead.

More foul trouble as Tyus Battle picked up his fourth with just over 10 minutes remaining. With only five points to show for his efforts, it has been a struggle for the Orange throughout this one.

Finally, the rest of the team started picking it up with Tyus attacking the paint, Howard shooting from deep, and after a 7-0 run Syracuse closed the gap to 61-50 with under seven minutes remaining.

Unfortunately, the Orange just dug themselves in too deep of a hole to be able to fight out of this one. The final score in this one was NC State 73, Syracuse 58.

Final takeaways:

• Since joining the ACC Syracuse was 3-0 vs NC State at PNC Arena, now they’re 3-1.
• The Orange were awful from long range finishing 5-of-25.
• Tyus Battle only finished with seven points. A good performance from Howard scoring the basketball with 21 points, but too many mistakes were made by Howard and the rest of the team.
• SU was crushed on the glass: 42:30.
• While the free throw disparity was deplorable with NC State converting 20-of-24 and the Orange only mustered 11-of-22.
• Despite forcing 20 Wolfpack turnovers, Syracuse couldn’t convert that into a win.

Up next the Orange can prepare themselves over the next week for a top-25 Louisville team coming into the Carrier Dome on Wednesday with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.