The Syracuse Orange basketball team saw its three-game winning streak come to a close at Boston College, falling 81-73 in overtime. Syracuse (12-6, 3-2) lost to Boston College (8-10, 1-4) for just the second time in the last fifteen games in the series.
Boston College was led by Fred Payne’s 26 points. Syracuse guard Nate Kingz went for a career-high 27 points on 8-12 shooting to go with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Donnie Freeman had a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. JJ Starling added
12 points and 5 rebounds.
Syracuse led 33-28 at the half but was outdone in the second. The Orange still has some inexplicable turnovers at critical junctures of the game that prove costly. Syracuse had 18 turnovers which the Eagles converted into 22 points. Boston College had just eight turnovers on the day.
Donald Hand Jr. buried a three with seven seconds left that ultimately sent the game into overtime. Four straight scores by the Eagles into extra time effectively put this game out of reach.
To the takeaways.
White whale disappears into the horizon
After the NCAA Tournament bubble came into conversation following a three-game win streak, Syracuse saw its post-season goal fall further out of view. The lacuna in Autry’s coaching tenure, an NCAA Tournament appearance, seems like a longshot in 2026.
The season isn’t over, no. But the reality of the current situation?
Syracuse now has a pair of quadrant three losses to Hofstra and Boston College. With a 1-4 record in quadrant one and 1-0 in quadrant two games, the Orange résumé is nowhere near where it needs to be for serious bubble consideration.
Bench boys struggle
Ah, the mid-second half dip. Nice to see you again.
You can set your watch to the Syracuse second half lull and it usually occurs when the starters come out of the game. The Orange bench had a hard time in this outing, all guys finished without a positive on plus-minus for the game.
The bench combined for just two points on the night and struggled on the other end. Kiyan Anthony had a hard time defending, even matched up against Boston College’s least threatening player. After a career-high 18 point game, Betsey struggled to score and defend in this one. White had three first half fouls and didn’t appear in the second half. Akir Souare had just one rebound and two fouls in nine minutes.
Syracuse was up four in the second half when bench players subbed in. Boston College came back to take the lead and could’ve threatened more if not for a pair of Kingz threes.
The juicing station needed more life.
Clutch Kingz
Not for nothing, this was the best all-around game for Nate Kingz in a Syracuse uniform. Although Kingz played good defense and had 19 against Tennessee, all those came in the first half of that game.
Kingz went for a career-high 27 points, eclipsing a previous high of 20 with Oregon State. His buckets were timely in this one despite the loss.
A Kingz corner three off a feed from Starling ended a 9-0 Boston College run in the first half. He made a pair of critical threes in the second half with the Orange in a scoring drought. His and-one with five minutes left gave Syracuse the lead 58-55.
Another bucket by Kingz with 1:20 made it a four point game. His three-point play cut the lead to three with 1:49 in overtime.
It wasn’t enough as the Orange didn’t get the defensive stops it needed to close things out, but the made buckets by Kingz still deserve to be acknowledged.
Ineffective 2-3 zone
It’s hard to understand why Syracuse has gone back to its 2-3 zone defense when the man-to-man has been, for the most part, so effective this season. The 2-3 zone was dissected by Boston College for open looks. Syracuse is giving up too many offensive rebounds out of the zone. Boston College scored a dozen second chance points on Saturday.
Late in the game, a three by Hand Jr. on the zone made it 62-60 with 100 seconds left. Sure, it was deep. But Hand is not taking that shot if someone is matched up in man.
The zone might have worked late at Georgia Tech. One could argue it gives teams a different look when one guy is hot. It’s easy to make these statements while watching from the stands or at home. But it’s just hard to see where the zone is a better option than Syracuse’s man defense.
