Syracuse Basketball: SU season ends vs Baylor in NCAA Tournament

The Syracuse basketball season came to a crashing halt vs the Baylor Bears in the opening round. Here’s how it all played out on Thursday evening.

Syracuse basketball fans aren’t used to being one and done, yet that’s exactly what happened in 2018-19 vs the Baylor Bears. Here’s how it all played out in the round of 64.

Can we go through a Syracuse basketball season without drama? IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION RICHARD!

Right before the Orange were set to tip things off in Salt Lake City they found out that their senior point guard Frank Howard would not play in this game vs Baylor and possibly never again for Syracuse.

Which means the lineup we saw was Tyus Battle at the point (which we’ve seen before) and Buddy Boeheim stepping into the starting lineup with the usual suspects of Elijah Hughes, Oshae Brissett, and Paschal Chukwu.

When you look at that Syracuse lineup they have one of the biggest starting fives in the league. While for Baylor they’re incredibly small with only three forwards even listed on the roster. Despite the apparent size advantage, Baylor is one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the country.

That became evident early with Baylor chucking shots up from deep, but most importantly getting second and third opportunities. Baylor started out red hot making 5-of-7 from beyond the arc to give the team a 15-4 lead less than five minutes into the game.

Then a player stepped up that quite frankly had to step up: Elijah Hughes who made back-to-back threes at the top of the shot clock. Although Hughes wasn’t the only one making threes, both teams combined to make nine three-pointers in the first seven minutes of the game.

Although puzzling that Syracuse didn’t try to impose their will physically on the inside with the size advantage. To be honest that’s more sustainable than the three-point shooting barrage that kicked off this game.

Typically speaking it’s easier, but Syracuse continued the crazy offense and Baylor wouldn’t go away either.

First-half takeaways:

• Elijah Hughes was on FIRE: 18 points (four points from his career-high 22 points).
• 3-point shooting (19 combined long-range makes from Syracuse, Baylor).
• Rebounding was expected to be a HUGE part of this game, but with all the three-point shooting the battle of the boards was somewhat marginalized. Baylor led at the half 13-9.

Second half

The big question heading into the second half was the hot three-point shooting, would that continue in the second half?

One thing Baylor had going for them was Makai Mason using the dribble to get into the teeth of the zone and then kicking it out for a wide open look.

But the three-point party continued with everyone getting involved including Marek Dolezaj on a deep three. Making it 51-50 with under 14 minutes remaining.

The teams would continue to trade blows with the lead also changing hands several times over a 12-15 minute span.

But then an offensive lull occurred with the Orange not being able to score for a multi-minute stretch. Baylor extended the lead to seven 65-58 with under seven minutes remaining.

Sadly that offensive lull continued through the rest of the game and the Orange couldn’t overcome it. SU loses 78-69.

Final takeaways:

• Tyus Battle looked better than ever. He had missed the past two games for the Orange after suffering a hip/back injury late in the regular season finale vs Clemson. But showed zero hesitation or effects from the injury in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Elijah Hughes with a NEW career-high with 25 points.
• SU had too many turnovers (14) and in what was a tight game until the end, that was a big difference.

SU’s streak of eight straight opening-round wins is now over after losing to Baylor in the round of 64. Which means this is officially the end of the line for Frank Howard and Paschal Chukwu and likely junior Tyus Battle who will be heading to the NBA Draft.