Syracuse men’s basketball: takeaways from loss to SMU

Another 2nd half collapse

Once again the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, dropping their third straight road game 77-75 to SMU. Let’s get to the takeaways…

Inability to close

The Orange took a 63-51 lead with just under ten minutes to play, then watched as SMU went on a 9-1 run in the next two minutes to close the gap. As it’s been the case all year, Syracuse turned the ball over and missed critical free throws in the final minutes to turn a win into a loss.

My turning point came with Syracuse up 72-66 and Eddie Lampkin got around SMU center Samet Yigitoglu and looked to have a reverse layup. As he went to gather, Lampkin bobbled the ball, recovered and missed a jump shot. Instead of pushing the lead to eight, SMU was able to get the rebound and keep the game in striking distance. Syracuse didn’t make a field goal in the final 5:12 of the game.

Paint troubles

Syracuse not only lost the points in the paint battle, they were crushed by SMU 44-26, including 28-10 in the second half. Overall, it felt like the Orange defense did decent, but turnovers (especially six 2nd half steals) let SMU get into more open space and not only score inside the paint, but get to the foul line for 27 free throw attempts.

Rotation out of alignment

JJ Starling is Syracuse’s most talented offensive player, but in a game where he was part of a head-to-head collision and shot 3-17 from the floor, he shouldn’t have played 30 minutes. Lucas Taylor (5-7) and Kyle Cuffe (4-6) were both on a streaky good shooting night and played 16 and 13 minutes respectively.

After the collision, Starling only missed about four minutes of game action despite being taken into the locker room. For all the complaints about Adrian Autry and the Syracuse staff, the in-game substitution pattern remains the most concerning aspect of the “coaching”. This was a game where the Orange should have played Cuffe or Taylor along with Chris Bell for longer stretches of the game.

Analytics are important to use in terms of strategy and game-planning, but there has to be a better feel for who is on a roll and should get more time. While Taylor did pick up two first half fouls, it was a situation where he should have stayed on the floor.

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One more regular season game and despite the improved play as of late, the frustration mounts. The way they have shown up in the last three road games, the Orange could have put themselves at 15-15 heading into the Virginia game, but when you don’t play with confidence it shows up in late-game situations.

Syracuse had a chance to finish the season with some positive results, but the last four games have just piled on the disappointment.