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The Syracuse Orange played two games of almost this week. They had big wins against the N.C. State Wolf Pack and Florida State Seminoles in their grasp and let both slip away. Along with the games the ability to put themselves on the right side of the NCAA Tournament slipped away as well leaving Syracuse with a big hill to climb the next few weeks.
The games this week turned at the end of each half as Syracuse lost ground in the final minutes in both game. This isn’t a new issue for the 2019-20 Orange as this problem has shown on more than one occasion as you can see here:
Five Minutes of Trouble
| Opponent | 5 min to go in 1st half | Halftime Score | Plus-Minus | 5 min to go in 2nd half | Final Score | Plus-Minus | Last 5 minutes of each half |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | 5 min to go in 1st half | Halftime Score | Plus-Minus | 5 min to go in 2nd half | Final Score | Plus-Minus | Last 5 minutes of each half |
| Virginia | 15-10 Virginia | 25-19 Virginia | -1 | 46-28 Virginia | 48-34 Virginia | 4 | 3 |
| Oklahoma State | 26-24 Syracuse | 43-31 Oklahoma St | -14 | 78-63 Oklahoma St | 86-72 Okla St | 1 | -13 |
| Penn State | 27-15 Penn St | 34-27 Penn St | 5 | 63-56 Penn St | 85-64 Penn St | -14 | -9 |
| Iowa | 22-21 Iowa | 30-29 Iowa | 0 | 61-47 Iowa | 68-54 Iowa | 0 | 0 |
| Georgetown | 34-32 Georgetown | 48-36 Georgetown | -10 | 75-62 Georgetown | 89-79 Georgetown | 2 | -8 |
| Notre Dame | 34-28 Syracuse | 40-37 Syracuse | -3 | 73-70 Syracuse | 88-87 Notre Dame | -4 | -7 |
| Virginia Tech | 22-16 Syracuse | 33-27 Syracuse | 0 | 55-49 Va Tech | 67-63 Va Tech | 2 | 2 |
| @Virginia* | 17-13 Syracuse | 24-20 Syracuse | 0 | 37-36 Virginia | 63-55 Syracuse | 9* (incl OT) | 9* (incl OT) |
| Boston College | 23-9 Syracuse | 38-13 Syracuse | 9 | 69-44 Syracuse | 76-50 Syracuse | 1 | 10 |
| @Virginia Tech | 32-20 Syracuse | 36-28 Syracuse | -4 | 65-58 Syracuse | 71-69 Syracuse | -5 | -9 |
| @Notre Dame | 38-37 Notre Dame | 46-42 Syracuse | 5 | 70-69 Syracuse | 84-82 Syracuse | 1 | 6 |
| Pittsburgh | 28-10 Syracuse | 32-21 Syracuse | -7 | 57-49 Syracuse | 69-61 Syracuse | 0 | -7 |
| @Clemson | 25-20 Syracuse | 35-33 Syracuse | -3 | 62-61 Clemson | 71-70 Clemson | 0 | -3 |
| Duke | 30-28 Syracuse | 40-36 Duke | -6 | 78-64 Duke | 97-88 Duke | 3 | -3 |
| Wake Forest | 30--19 Syracuse | 38-30 Syracuse | -3 | 69-65 Wake | 75-73 Syracuse | 6 | 3 |
| NC State | 26-26 | 39-35 NC State | -4 | 68-64 Syracuse | 79-74 NC State | -9 | -13 |
| @Florida State | 29-29 | 41-33 FSU | -8 | 62-61 Syracuse | 80-77 Florida State | -4 | -12 |
Looking at this week’s games, here’s how the Orange closed the final five minutes of the 1st half at home against NC State. The Syracuse offense was 2 for 9 shooting (0 for 3 on 3-pointers) but 5 for 5 from the foul line. Defense allowed NC State to go 4 for 7 from the field (2 for 5 from 3) and 3 for 6 from the foul line
In the final five minutes of the game: Syracuse shot 1 for 9 from the field (0 for 3 from 3) and 4 for 4 from the foul line. NC State shot 4 for 5 from the field (3 for 4 from 3) and 4 for 9 from the foul line.
Against FSU the Orange closed the first half shooting 1 for 9 from the field (0 for 4 from 3) and 1 for 1 from the foul line. Florida State shot 4 for 10 from the field (2 for 3 from 3) and 2 for 2 from the foul line.
In the final five minutes of the game Syracuse was 5 for 9 from the field (0 for 1 from 3) and 4 for 5 from the foul line while Florida State shot 5 for 6 from the field (2 for 2 from 3) and 4 for 4 from the foul line.
That’s twenty minutes of basketball where Syracuse has shot a collective 9 for 36 from the floor and 0 for 11 from 3 while allowing their opponents to shoot 17 for 28 (9 for 14 from 3).
I thought the Orange did a better job of attacking the lane down the stretch on Saturday and not settling for deep shots until Elijah Hughes late attempt to tie, but defensively they couldn’t get stops. Is this a question of fatigue or execution? You can spin it how you want but in the two games that Syracuse needed to win they couldn’t stop the other team from making shots when it counted. (Check out this piece on The Athletic for more on the defensive breakdowns)
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Syracuse’s two best ACC wins were at Notre Dame and at Virginia and in both game the Orange remained strong down the stretch and executed well enough to secure close wins. Unfortunately these efforts have been the exception and not the norm for this squad and the constant fight back from deficits just leaves the team running out of time.
The games this week combined with the game at Clemson are likely going to be the difference between watching Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament and watching them playing a NIT road game for the first time since 2007 (which was at Clemson).