“Yes, this was the worst.”
That was SU head coach Adrian Autry’s response after being asked if Syracuse’s 87-60 loss to Maryland in the Gotham Classic was the worst defeat of his coaching career.
The Orange put up a mere 17 first half points, and struggled to get anything going on either side of the ball at the Barclays Center. So, what went wrong in Brooklyn? Let’s assign some grades based on the Orange’s performance.
Turnovers: F
I rarely give a failing grade, but the Orange deserve it today after giving away the ball 21 times. The 21 turnovers are a season-high for the squad. It just seemed like from the jump that SU was out of rhythm. With guard J.J. Starling is still out with injury, there’s simply too much pressure on guard Jaquan Carlos. The Hofstra transfer is SU’s only ball-handler, playing a full 40 minutes today. Given that, Maryland attacked Carlos, stalling the Orange offense. Even head coach Adrian Autry noted SU’s lack of guard depth saying, “This game in particular, it would have been great to have another guard. They tired Jaquan Carlos.” Syracuse is simply too one dimensional right now, and it’s showing…Maryland really pressured the ball, they knew we only had one ball handler.” The Terps finished with 25 turnover points, which was the primary reason why the Orange fell behind so fast.
Offense: D
Due to the sheer amount of turnovers in this game, the Orange had no shot on offense. The 17 points first half points as mentioned above was the lowest mark for the squad in a first stanza since scoring 16 in the first stanza against Duke in 2018. The only bright spot for Syracuse was that its two freshman phenoms in guard Elijah Moore and forward Donnie Freeman both found double figures. Moore had a team leading 16, with Freeman notching 15. If those two hadn’t shown signs of life for SU on offense, it would’ve been an even bigger disaster this afternoon than it already was at the Barclays Center.
Defense: D
It was another lackluster day on the defensive side of the ball for SU. Maryland was firing on all cylinders early on. The Terps drained 12 three’s and finished the game shooting just over 45 percent from the field. Just to put into context how much Maryland was dominating on offense, Terps forward Selton Miguel had 22 points by the time that Syracuse hit 19 as a team. That’s simply unacceptable. SU simply couldn’t get a stop, with Maryland notching 42 points in the paint and 36 from beyond the arc. And, when the Orange did get a stop, they gave the ball away giving the defense no chance to keep them in the game.
Overall, it was a more than ugly day for Syracuse at Barclays. With the loss, SU finishes a winless 0-3 in the home of the Nets this year. On the nice side of things, the Orange don’t have to go back to Brooklyn for the rest of the year. However on the naughty side, It’s the first time that Syracuse has a losing record heading into Christmas break since the 1965-66 season. On top of that, SU is yet to be a power-five team this season.
Next up for Syracuse is Bucknell back inside the Dome in one week’s time to wrap up non-conference play. While there’s many glaring holes facing the squad that were seen today, next week’s contest could be a momentum shifter with the Bison sitting at 4-7, good for 8th in the Patriot League.
