The Syracuse Orange took on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend this afternoon and came up just a bit short. Did I say a bit short? Because I meant to say Syracuse lost 84-66.

Sans Tyler Lydon, Syracuse didn’t get off to an auspicious start as it gave up seven made threes in the first half alone. Tyus Battle and Andrew White both scored nine first half points, but the only other player to score was Frank Howard who had just two. Syracuse shot a paltry 37 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and headed into the break down 41-32.

Not much changed in the second half as Syracuse continued to give up uncontested threes as Notre Dame essentially scored at will. Syracuse played a lot of one-on-one in the half-court and only having 8 assists backs that up.

Return of DaJuan

If there was any positive out of today’s game, seeing DaJuan Coleman back on the court was encouraging. Jim Boeheim elected to go to the big man in both halves and he finished with 5 points, 7 rebounds and a steal.

Stats

Lydon once again led the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Battle scored 17 and White added 16. Frank Howard chipped in 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Notre Dame finished the game shooting 49.2 percent from the floor while VJ Beachem went for a career-high 30 points.

Next Up

With the loss Syracuse drops to 11-9 on the season and 3-4 in the conference. The Orange will return home to take on Wake Forest on Tuesday. That game tips at 7 pm from the Carrier Dome.