Syracuse Basketball: NCAA Tournament hopes stomped by Louisville

Syracuse basketball watched as its NCAA Tournament hopes were stomped out by the Louisville Cardinals. Here are all the details and what’s next.

Syracuse basketball never led and watched as its NCAA Tournament hopes were stomped out by the Louisville Cardinals on Wednesday night.

At the KFC Yum! Center, the Orange had one final opportunity to pad the resume and they let that chance slip through its fingers.

Syracuse kept things close in the first half (41-34), but things got out of hand in the second half.

The Cards nailed 10 triple tries, won the battle of the boards (45-to-36), and shot an efficient 47 percent from the field. Once the game started slipping away, Syracuse panicked and tried to come back with everything they had which only increased the deficit.

After keeping every ACC game close in earnest since the new year, the Orange got blown out by 24 points losing 90 to 66. It was the worst loss of the season for Syracuse.

Syracuse continued to struggle from long range (shooting 7-of-26 from distance) and its best player Elijah Hughes struggled. Hughes played 37 minutes went 3-of-13 from the field and 1-for-6 from downtown.

Although the biggest issue for the Orange in this contest was the horrible defense.

The Cardinals entered this game with only one player on the team averaging double-digit points per game (Jordan Nwora) but by the end of this matchup, they finished with five players in double figures:

• Jordan Nwora (17 points)
• Dwayne Sutton (16 points)
• Malik Williams (14 points)
• Ryan McMahon (13 points)
• Steven Enoch (10 points)

Now Syracuse is sitting at 14-12 overall and sub .500 in the ACC (7-8). Per the ESPN BPI Analytics, the Orange is favored in every game remaining on the regular-season slate.

Although even if the Orange wins out the rest of the way (which is by no means a guarantee) that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. The only destiny technically Syracuse controls is winning the ACC Tournament and securing an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and those chances are slim to none.