In the first-ever matchup between the two schools, Syracuse took down Youngstown State in double overtime. The Orange won 104-95 in a back-and-forth affair, improving to 3-0 after opening its season with narrow wins over Le Moyne and Colgate. Syracuse was again dominant on the glass, collecting 40+ rebounds for the third straight game. The team’s ball movement was also sharp as it finished with 19 assists compared to Youngstown State’s 9 assists as guard JJ Starling led the team in scoring with a career-high 38 points. The Orange struggled to execute in crunch time, Starling and the Orange found a way to close the game out, even if it wasn’t pretty.
Offense: B
Considering Syracuse’s offensive lapses during this game, this grade feels high, but it’d be hard not to recognize Starling’s career-best game. He smashed his previous career-high of 26 points and logged a game-high 49 minutes while adding seven rebounds and three assists. The Orange relied on the junior heavily in this one, and he was their main source of attack in both overtime periods, scoring 10 points across the extra frames. Syracuse struggled shooting the ball, making just 5 of its 22 three-point attempts (23%) and 25 of its 38 free-throw attempts (66%), and that poor shooting effort put the Orange down 31-38 heading into the half. Thanks to center Eddie Lampkin Jr, Syracuse wasn’t hurt much by its lack of shooting as the Orange outscored the Penguins 58-38 in the paint behind 20 points from Lampkin. Freshman Donnie Freeman also had his best game of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds, so while it was a mixed bag for Syracuse offensively, it was still mostly positive.
Defense: C
Despite heading into the game as heavy favorites, the Orange couldn’t string together stops early on and let Youngstown State start the game shooting 44% as the Penguins had their way to begin the game. Syracuse did beat Youngstown State in points from transition after transition defense was a notable issue in the first two games, and it locked down defensively for most of the second half as the Penguins struggled to shoot the ball with the same efficiency as they did in the first half. Giving up 26 points to guard EJ Farmer isn’t ideal, but the plan worked well enough for the Orange to win. While it won’t show up on the stat sheet and will be overshadowed by its blatant miscues on offense, Syracuse held Youngstown State in check during the second overtime and came up with multiple stops to slow down any momentum the Penguins had. It wasn’t the best defensive performance the Orange will have this season, but serviceable enough to win the game.
Late-Game Execution: D-
The only reason why this isn’t an F is because Syracuse still managed to win this game. While the Orange should be happy with the win, head coach Adrian Autry won’t be with how his team executed down the stretch. Syracuse had plenty of chances to put Youngstown State away before double overtime, squandering all of them. After the Orange went up 68-67 with two minutes to play, they let the Penguins go up 73-71 with 14 seconds left before Starling bailed them out with a tough layup. The first overtime was even more inexplicable. Leading 84-78 in the first overtime with 1:15 to go, the Orange let Youngstown State go an unanswered 8-0 scoring run, courtesy of some bad perimeter defense and free throw line misses. JaQuan Carlos had a chance to ice the game when he went to the charity stripe for two free throws with Syracuse up 86-84, and 17 seconds remaining, but he missed both. Double overtime was no better, as the Orange also missed free throws with under two minutes in the frame and let Youngstown State briefly take the lead. At least Syracuse made free throws with the game already over in double overtime to prevent an F rating and a shocking upset. Against the Penguins, Syracuse might have gotten away with it, but these regular heart attacks before ACC play opens are concerning. The Orange have a few things to clean up in that area if they want to prove they belong toward the top of the conference.
