Syracuse Men’s Basketball traveled down to Winston-Salem and lost its third straight. Here are three observations from its 88-83 defeat:
1) SU was outrebounded by Wake Forest
Wake Forest entered this game as the worst rebounding team in the conference (33.0 per game). Despite that, the Orange were outrebounded by the Demon Deacons 27-20. Donnie Freeman led the team with just five boards. William Kyle, the team’s leading rebounder, had just one all game. Simply inexcusable.
2) The Orange shot well from three… until they didn’t
Fresh off shooting just 17% from three in its loss to North Carolina last time out, Syracuse needed to shoot better from behind the arc if it wanted to secure a win. Today, it did just that – for one half. The Orange drained 10 threes in the first half alone, nearly matching their single-game season high before halftime. But their hot hand from three-point range would be quickly stifled. SU managed just 3 buckets from three in the second half.
3) Syracuse is winless on the road since January 10th
Syracuse’s last win on the road came on January 10th against Pittsburgh. The Orange now tied with just Pitt and Notre Dame for the second-worst road record in the entire ACC. For a program with the prestige of SU, that simply can’t happen.
You could argue every loss this season feels more and more like rock bottom for Syracuse. But the scary thing is, that mark might be way lower than anyone could have anticipated prior to this season. If the ‘Cuse were to lose their final two games, and Pitt wins out, it would just barely sneak in as the lowest seed in the ACC Tournament. You’d have to wonder if that’s what truly needs to happen for the program to wake up and shift the dismal direction it’s been heading in.
