Syracuse basketball lets Virginia Tech game slip through its fingers in brutal loss

Syracuse basketball lets another key ACC game slip through its fingers vs Virginia Tech. Here’s how it went down and what’s next.

Syracuse basketball fell to 8-7 and a painful 1-3 in the conference (three home losses) after a brutal loss to Virginia Tech in the dome on Tuesday night. Here’s how it all played out.

First half

At the first media timeout a little over four minutes into the game the score was all knotted up at two.

Syracuse had a few sloppy turnovers and allowed too many rebounds to a team in Virginia Tech who struggles in that department.

Although we expected a three-point shootout between these teams, but that’s not what we got to start. Virginia Tech started game 0-for-5 from deep and Syracuse hadn’t attempted a long-range attempt before the first media timeout.

Syracuse made its first sub of the game just under the 10-minute mark in the first half and we got to see Quincy Guerrier get some run. When he’s in the game and confident, this is an entirely different Orange squad.

Syracuse had a bigger lead than the scoreboard indicated, but the Hokies narrowed the gap with a few late three-pointers.

First half takeaways:

• STAR WATCH: Cleveland Browns All-Pro wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr made an appearance for this late-night affair. Plus local star Latavius Murray returned to the dome to catch some Orange action.
• Syracuse got away with some Marek Dolezaj playing the five with Virginia Tech lacking a true inside presence. That really helped spark a run to increase the lead going into the half.
• The Orange was an efficient 52.2 percent from the field and an outstanding 57.1 percent from deep.
  • Although the Orange was 4-of-7 from deep while the Hokies shot 5-of-18 from long range.
• As expected Syracuse won the battle of the boards in the first half: 14:11.
• The one dude that Syracuse kept quiet is Landers Nolley II who is the lone double-digit scorer on the Hokies this season. In the first half, he only managed four points on 2-of-7 shooting and shot some blanks from deep going 0-for-5.

Second half

It didn’t take nearly as long for head coach Jim Boeheim to make a lineup change in the second half opting for the small ball lineup of: JG3, Buddy Boeheim, Elijah Hughes, Quincy Guerrier, and Marek Dolezaj. That combination had a really good run at the end of the first half to extend the lead.

While on the other side the Virginia Tech Hokies were building a house with all the bricks they had in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

5-of-26 overall from deep with 12 minutes remaining. In fairness, some were just straight up misses and some you have to give credit to the Orange for their perimeter defense.

Although Syracuse had a combination of bad turnovers, poor officiating and missed opportunities that made it an uncomfortable tie game at 42 with around 10 minutes remaining in the contest.

A game that honestly felt like Syracuse had performed overall really well should’ve had a bigger lead than they did made it all the more uncomfortable.

The Hokies took that momentum and carried it to a 20-4 run to put them up 51-44 with 8:31 remaining in the game.

Syracuse’s offense just went stone-cold: 4-of-15 in the half and a woeful 0-for-4 from deep as the Hokies continued to pile it on.

Then as Syracuse was starting to get the crowd into it a terrible call on Marek Dolezaj fouled him out of the game with under six minutes remaining forcing Bourama Sidibe back into the game.

The Orange flirted with competing but ultimately let another pivotal close contest slip through its fingers. Syracuse ended up losing this one 67-63.

Up next for the Orange they’ll continue playing teams with Virginia in their name. On Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Syracuse will travel to play the defending National Champion Virginia Cavaliers in a rematch from the season opener.