The Syracuse Orange basketball season is in dire straits after suffering another demoralizing defeat, falling 88-68 at North Carolina State on Tuesday night. Syracuse continued its slide by losing its fourth straight game. It was the first Syracuse loss at the Lenovo Center since 2019.
NC State (15-6, 6-2) led for all but four seconds on the game. Will Wade’s club took the lead right off the opening tip and never trailed the rest of the way. The Wolfpack was led by Darrion Williams who finished the night
with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Quadir Copeland went for 19 points, 9 assists, 4 steals and 4 turnovers against his former team. Ven-Allen Lubin added 18 points and 9 rebounds.
Syracuse (12-9, 3-5) got 24 points and 10 rebounds from Donnie Freeman while JJ Starling scored 17 points. No other Orange player scored in double-figures. NC State out-rebounded Syracuse 45-33 and owned a 50-38 points in the paint advantage. The Wolfpack shot 51% from the floor and 83% from the line to Syracuse’s 39% field goal shooting and 56% free throw shooting. NC State led 41-37 at the half.
Syracuse was outscored 47-31 in the second half. Freeman had 16 points and 7 rebounds in the first half. With the defeat well in hand late, Adrian Autry cleared his bench. Calvin Russel, a five-star football recruit playing on the basketball team, scored his first bucket in an Orange uniform. He converted a three point play after an offensive rebound late in the game.
This late in the season Autry is still looking for answers. Given the current state of affairs, all options are on the table.
“I wanted to look at Bryce [Zephir], these other guys to see what I have. Obviously we’re struggling right now so I’m trying to look for something different things,” Autry said post-game. “We’ve got to look at everything. Everything is on the table now.”
To the takeaways.
The Iceman Cometh
Reality always hits. It’s just a matter of when and how painful.
Copeland got his lick back after feeling slighted by Syracuse for not seeing him as a point guard. The charismatic guard had a big night with 19 points and 9 assists as he and his team became to latest to call the verity of the Syracuse program into question. On the night where Copeland shined, current Syracuse point guard Naithan George struggled with 4 points on 2-12 shooting.
Copeland’s basketball career and the Syracuse program are headed in opposite directions. Syracuse is destined for a five-year NCAA Tournament drought. Copeland appeared in March Madness at McNeese with Wade a season ago and looks primed for another appearance.
Autry said he thinks Copeland is playing at an all-conference level.
“He’s a lot to handle, 6-6 guard that can move, wiggle, see over the defense. See over the traps. You try to force him different places, he’s used to that. He’s the main guy on the scouting report,” Autry said. “We were trying to slow him down a little bit but this is a talented team. He has pieces and weapons. The biggest thing that Quadir does is he gets people involved.”
Syracuse cannot afford to deceive itself any longer. Making the NCAA Tournament is a pipe dream and the death of the season is somewhere in this four-game losing streak. The reality of where this program currently is and where it wants to be is irreconcilable.
That was your father’s 2-3 zone
There’s a reason teams don’t play 2-3 zone in modern college basketball. It’s no longer effective and we have the data to prove it. There are so many knowledgeable coaches, skilled shooters and talented offensive players in the game now. Rebounding out of the zone proves difficult. (That includes you too, Merrimack).
Syracuse went to a 2-3 zone in the first half and on the very first possession Copeland threw a laser through multiple defenders for a wide open layup. Autry was incensed at his team after the play. Then, Copeland threw a lob to Ven-Allen Lubin for another easy layup against the zone. Later in the half, Williams made an uncontested mid-range shot to go up 32-25.
In the second half Syracuse went to a 2-3 zone when Sadiq White picked up his fourth foul. The zone surrendered a wide open three to Terrance Arceneaux. The three was missed, but Lubin corralled an offensive rebound and finished off an easy one. With eight minute left in the game Syracuse gave up two open threes and two offensive rebounds on the same possession when in zone. Finally, on the third shot, Musa Sagnia got an easy layup to fall.
It’s hard to understand why Syracuse is playing 2-3 zone. Irrespective of intention — whether to give teams a different look, to hide a bad defender or ward off against foul trouble — the zone defense hasn’t been effective no matter how you slice it.
Struggle to get Donnie the ball
Syracuse is having a hard time getting Freeman the ball and getting him the ball in places he can score. The Orange also fail to recognize when he has a mismatch.
Not that it falls on one player, but George missed Freeman multiple times in the first half when he had a smaller defender on him. In the first half Freeman had 6-foot-5 Paul McNeil guarding him and couldn’t get an entry pass.
“I feel like we just didn’t move the ball,” William Kyle said post game. “I feel like we played a lot of one-on-one. So I feel like if we share the ball, move the ball, we can get a lot more going with our offense.”
Many of Freeman’s touches in the second half started from out on the perimeter. He can handle it out there, but he’s much more effective when he gets the ball from the elbow or low block where he can make a quick move, or finish over the top of smaller defenders. Freeman scored just eight second half points on six shots after scoring 17 in the first on 12 shots.
It’s going to be hard for Syracuse to win games if it can’t get its best player the ball in his spots to score.
Also, we know teams guard him tight but it’d be interesting to learn why Nate Kingz isn’t getting more shots. He finished with six points on 2-5 shooting.
Put some spotlight on the slide
Syracuse lost its fourth straight game for the first time in the Autry era. Not even last year’s 14-19 team lost four straight. The last time the Orange program dropped four consecutive games? The 2022-23 season, the final year of Jim Boeheim’s coaching career.
Syracuse will return home to take on Notre Dame this Saturday riding a four-game losing streak. The Orange program never lost five straight games in the 47-year Boeheim era. The last time Syracuse lost five straight games was during the 1961-62 season under head coach Marc Guley.
