After a historically bad regular season, Syracuse started it’s ACC Tournament run Tuesday night knowing it needs to win it all to make the NCAA Tournament and end a three-year drought. As the 14-seed, SU’s first round task was 11-seed Florida State, who defeated the Orange 90-74 in early Janaury.
The Orange looked dominant for most of the game. Then things came slipping. Syracuse ended up nearly blowing a 16-point lead. But in the end, SU hit its shots and took home a 66-62 win.
Syracuse started the game off strong, making five of its first six shots. And the most encouraging sign was a pair of early threes from Jaquan Carlos and Jyare Davis.
Much as was the case against Virginia, Syracuse center Eddie Lampkin was hot in the early stages of this one. The big man made his first three inside shots of the day as Syracuse jumped out to a 17-10 lead despite messy play on both sides.
While SU was far from perfect, it’s easy to establish a lead when your opponent can’t shoot. The Seminoles started five-of-fifteen from the field. Not great. Around the halfway point of the first half, the teams went on a streak combining to make just two of fifteen shots.
Unfortunately, every single Syracuse game seems to follow the same script. Sometimes an okay start. But then comes the drought. After the under-eight media timeout, Syracuse could not hit a bucket. This included a nearly two-minute scoring drought.
The Orange did have one player stepping up. Eddie Lampkin DOMINATED in the paint. He was the first player to double figures, even playing against one of the tallest teams in the country.
A free throw with under two seconds left by JJ Starling put Syracuse up 30-26 to close out the first half, an ugly 20 minutes from both teams. Lampkin led the way with 12 points and six rebounds.
SU broke out of its usual second half ways and went on a 6-2 run to start the second half, prompting a timeout from FSU. The Orange just keep doing what had been working all day…feeding inside and getting buckets in the paint. A rare sign of good coaching.
Every time that FSU looked like it had a little run in them, Syracuse had a response. The Orange flew around the court, looking more energetic and stretching the lead out to a game-high 16, thanks to a 10-0 run. Even Naheem McLeod got in on the fun against his former team with an alley-oop.
At the under-12 media timeout, Syracuse’s lead: 13. The Orange were playing unrecognizable basketball, in a good way.
Then came…well, Syracuse basketball. FSU went on a 10-0 run, to cut the deficit to 50-44 deficit. The main reason behind it: turnovers. A Starling layup snapped what was a SIX MINUTE scoring drought.
And then both teams kind of reached a standstill. Trading misses. Trading makes. Not a pretty game, and Syracuse’s surely wasn’t helping its case with stupid mistakes (i.e. Starling MISSING a dunk instead of taking a layup).
JJ Starling was carrying the Orange until Lucas Taylor made a big time error. He fouled Jamir Wakins while he was shooting a three with under a minute left. After Watkins hit all three, FSU pulled within three points.
The final minute was pandemonium. Turnovers and free throws (missed and made) led FSU to have a chance to do it.
Davis turned it over with 15 seconds left, and FSU gets a second chance score to make it a one-point game with 9 seconds left. But Kyle Cuffe hit its free throws, and Syracuse ended up with just enough to pull the win.
JJ Starling finished with 27 points, while Davis and Lampkin each added 14.
Now, Syracuse turns its attention to SMU, a team it lost to just this week. Tip-off is slated for 9:30 on Wednesday night in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
