Syracuse basketball falls flat without Elijah Hughes vs Miami Hurricanes in OT

Syracuse basketball ended its 2019-20 regular season on a sour note vs Miami without Elijah Hughes. Here are all the details and how it played out.

It was a very simple task for the Syracuse basketball team.

Beat the Miami Hurricanes, a team in the midst of a three-game losing streak, and without its best player Chris Lykes.

If the Orange would’ve been able to pull it off, they would’ve clinched the No. 5 seed in the ACC Tournament. Unfortaltye they blew their chance in a 69-65 overtime loss to the Hurricanes.

It was a back and forth first half, but the highlight was Elijah Hughes getting hit in the noggin and had to sit out the second half.

Without Hughes, the Orange were forced to turn to Joe Girard III, Buddy Boeheim, and some scarcely used role players.

The three-point regression continued for Syracuse. Over the last 10 to 15 games the Orange have fallen apart from the perimeter and in this one, they were 5-of-25 from deep.

Boeheim and JG3 combined to go 4-of-20 from long range, despite that Girard hit a 15-foot jumper that knotted the game at 56 with a second to go to force it to overtime.

All of the things that Miami was supposed to be terrible in heading into this game didn’t come to fruition.

The Hurricanes were the worst rebounding team in the conference, yet they smacked Syracuse 43-to-41. Miami wasn’t a particularly strong passing team, yet in this game dished out a season-high 18 assists. Both of those factoids helped the Hurricanes finish off the Orange in overtime.

Now Syracuse has only one opportunity left to go dancing and that’s the ACC Tournament.

Up next this squad will hold the No. 6 seed in the conference tourney and will play next Wednesday evening at 9:30 p.m. in Greensboro.