CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — The Syracuse Orange (13-11, 4-7) are leaving John Paul Jones Arena with another missed opportunity an upsetting one of the best teams in the ACC. Syracuse fell 72-59 to No. 18 Virginia Cavaliers (20-3, 9-2) on Saturday afternoon, handing the team its sixth loss in its last seven games.
Rebounding and turnovers were two of the major reasons why the Orange came up short in the end. The Cavaliers outscored the Orange 17-8 in points off turnovers and held a 17-6 advantage on the offensive
glass. Syracuse shot eight percent better (49%) than UVA (41%), but still finished with a season-low 59 points. Virginia also went 10/30 from three, compared to 3/11 for ‘Cuse.
Syracuse trailed as much as a dozen in the first half, then battled back and kept the game close up until the middle of the second half, when the Cavs built up a deficit too big for the Orange to overcome. ‘Cuse loses its second-straight and falls to 1-6 in Quadrant 1 games this season.
Naithan George finished with a game-high 19 points on 8/9 shooting with three assists and five turnovers. Both J.J. Starling and Nate Kingz had 13 each. Donnie Freeman only scored five points on 2/11 shooting.
Sam Lewis was UVA’s leading scorer with 16 points (5/10 shooting, 4/8 from three). Thijs De Ridder (9 points), Jacari White (8 points) and Malik Thomas (8 points) also contributed for the Cavs.
William Kyle would set the tone early with a block on Virginia’s first possession. Right after, Starling pushed the ball inside and scored over his defender to get Syracuse on the board. However, an early foul on Kyle would see him check out 97 seconds into the game with Ibrahim Souare subbing in his place.
Virginia immediately responded with a corner three by Sam Lewis, but would go on to miss four straight. The brief cold spurt led to a 6-0 burst by Syracuse which would see Starling and George finish tough baskets inside. George would also get a transition layup off a bounce pass from Freeman. Syracuse led 8-7 heading into the first media timeout after Malik Thomas connected on a three of his own.
It wouldn’t take long for UVA to find its groove.
The Cavs’ would score 12 straight and hold the Orange without a field goal for over four minutes. The run included another three, time time by Dallin Hall, along with a hook shot by Devin Tillis and a slam dunk off a backdoor cut from Martin Carrere. George ended the dry spell with a pair of free throws and a pull-up mid-ranger, but he shortly after picked up his second foul of the half.
The Orange’s deficit continued to grow as the first half continued.
Freeman finally scored a tough basket after an 0/4 start, but picked up a tech. Lewis would make both his looks on the free trip to the foul line as a result. Soon after, Syracuse called timeout after Jacari White received the ball on a handoff and knocked down what was Virginia’s fifth three of the game, giving UVA its largest lead so far of the day (28-16). The Cavs moved the ball with ease, as all eight of its first makes came off of assists.
It was then Syracuse’s turn to punch back on offense.
Syracuse would have a stretch where it made five straight shots from the floor and go on a 13-2 run of its own, sparked by a couple of scores by Starling and a top of the key three from Freeman. Tyler Betsey then connected on a deep shot of his own. One possession later, George drove inside for a score plus the foul to tie the game back up at 33 apiece.
Another basket from George was sandwiched between a slam dunk by Thijs De Ridder (who was 0/6 before this score) and White’s second three of the contest. Syracuse would go into the locker room down three (38-35) after trailing as much as 12.
Both George (13 points on 5/5 shooting) and Starling (10 points on 5/7) scored 23 of the 35 first-half points for the Orange, who shot 58% overall. Lewis had eight for the Cavs, while White and Thomas combined for 11.
Kyle and Johann Grunloh would exchange blocks to begin the second half. After a brief period of no points, Thomas got UVA its first score out of halftime with a step back three. Syracuse would quickly go down eight before Kingz finally got ‘Cuse going with a three of his own. Starling and George then each had a basket, and Syracuse was now down four (48-44) with under 15 minutes left.
But, UVA again started to capitalize on Syracuse’s mistakes and taking advantage on the offensive glass. A pair of turnovers would eventually lead to scores be Lewis and Ugonna Onyenso that would put the Orange back in a nine-point deficit and forcing them to take another timeout.
Syracuse stayed in that sort of deficit as the half progressed, with Kingz scoring a tough one over Onyenso and then connecting on a baseline mid-range shot to counter makes from Onyenso and De Ridder. With eight to go, the Orange trailed 59-50, but remained within distance.
Syracuse would get the deficit down to as low as four in the final portion of the second half. Kingz drove inside once again to inch ‘Cuse closer. George them found Souare open for a jam off the lob pass. Amid this, the Cavs’ were just one for their last seven.
But, it would be the closest Syracuse would get.
Lewis ended UVA’s cold spell with a mid-range shot. Syracuse then had its own run of four misses in a row. Hall then drove inside and converted the and-one over Kingz, putting the Orange in a nine-point hole with three minutes in the contest. A 7-0 run in the final few minutes put things away for good.
‘Cuse returns to the JMA Wireless Dome on Wednesday night to face California.
