Syracuse basketball goes winless in Barclays after losing to Penn State

Syracuse basketball loses its 2nd straight game at the Barclays Center. Here are all the details and lowlights from the loss to Penn State on Saturday night.

Syracuse basketball was unable to secure a victory at the Barclays Center during the Thanksgiving holiday. Here’s how the Orange fell short vs the Penn State Nittany Lions.

First half

Syracuse basketball experienced a disappointing first experience at the Barclays Center vs Oklahoma State, how would they do vs Penn State?

More disappointing offense, right from the get-go Syracuse struggled to match the Nittany Lions’ physicality and it was painfully evident.

When you stare at the Penn State roster sheet they have a lot of fully grown men: Mike Watkins (6-foot-9, 254 pounds) and Lamar Stevens (6-foot-8, 221 pounds). Just muscular dudes who can ball, not many of those types on the Orange roster.

In the first half, the pair combined for 17 points, three blocks, and 12 boards (nearly as many as Syracuse had as a team).

Although things ended on a nice note with the Slovakian slayer, Marek Dolezaj, beating the buzzer for a soft touch two-pointer to trim the lead to seven.

In all honesty, things could’ve been much worse for the Orange, thanks to an 8-0 run late they did make it more respectable.

First-half takeaways:

• There’s no other way to put it, Syracuse got dominated on the glass: Penn State 30 boards, Syracuse 14.
• More Bourama Sidibe foul trouble (3) and ineffectiveness scoring a fat donut in the first stanza. Quincy Guerrier was really the one member of Syracuse that showed he can bang inside with Penn State.
• Nittany Lions attempted double (16) the number of triple tries as the Orange (8), not a good figure. Syracuse has to be more aggressive looking for their shots.

Second half

Syracuse carried the momentum early in the second half, after being down by as many as 15 in the first half the Orange cut it down to a two-point game: 35-33.

Joe Girard III continued the energy and made a great defensive read, got the steal, and channeled his inner quarterback play to deliver a pass to Elijah Hughes for the transition slam to make it a 35 tie game.

https://twitter.com/Cuse_MBB/status/1200590096845692928

If you include the run from the first half, Syracuse was on a 20-5 run, incredible the Cardiac Cuse refuses to die. It’s evident early this season that the Orange is going to be a fun team to watch.

Considering the collapse by Penn State in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-off vs Ole Miss, this run was significant.

Although both games at the Barclays Center saw the same result: Syracuse getting into foul trouble. The problem is when Dolezaj and Sidibe get into foul trouble, what can this team do? They’ve got a lot of depth at a variety of positions, but not so much inside.

Syracuse continued to battle back and make it interesting, but every time the Orange got close, Penn State hit some clutch buckets to extend the lead.

Syracuse loses its second straight game and goes winless in the NIT Season Tip-off tournament. A missed opportunity to say the least for the Orange.

Syracuse is now off to their worst start (4-3) since the 1996-97 season. Let that simmer for a moment on your brain.

Up next for the Orange they return to the dome for a stiff challenge vs Iowa on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.