Syracuse looks to end three-game losing streak to N.C. State; What went wrong in those games?

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team has suffered three straight losses to NC State and will look to buck that trend on Sunday. Since joining the ACC, the Orange are just 3-5 against the Wolfpack. They’ll look to get back on the right side of the W-L column as Kevin Keatts will be without his leading scorer in Devon Daniels, who will miss the season with an ACL injury.

With that in mind, we take a look back at the previous matchups as Syracuse looks to get its first win over NC State since John Gillon scored 43 points in an overtime victory back in 2017.

February 14, 2018. A day where we all expect to get love ended up becoming a day of torture for Orange fans. Current NBA G league player and of course former Syracuse product Oshae Brissett went off for a game-high 25 points and a game-high seven rebounds in a losing effort against the Wolfpack. So what went wrong? Well the Orange out-rebounded NC State 25-23 so it couldn’t be that.

Defensively the team tallied 11 steals so I wouldn’t say defense was the main issue. The difference was in the three point disparity as Syracuse went 5-14 from deep while allowing the Wolfpack to make 10 of their 23 attempts. The Final score was 74-70.

February 13, 2019. Maybe now that the Orange didn’t play on Valentine’s Day they’d get the win? Well, not quite. Former Orange point guard Frank Howard (21 PTS) dueled with Braxton Beverly (21 PTS) of NC State. The Wolfpack stifled the Syracuse offense as SU only scored 58 points that day.

The only players who scored in double digits for the Orange were Howard and Marek Dolezaj (10 PTS). To put the icing on the cake, the Wolfpack out-rebounded Boeheim’s squad 42-31 and shot 83% from the free throw line while the Orange shot 50%. NC State took this one 73-58.

February 11, 2020. Joe Girard was a man on a mission this game, going for 30 points as a freshman, a game-high. Even though he did this, Syracuse still lost. So what went wrong here? Well, Elijah Hughes didn’t play because he was injured and the Orange shot a paltry 3-18 from downtown, or 17%. NC State went 11-25, or 44%.

Despite this though, it was still a close game. Syracuse got to the line and they shot 27 free throws making 21 of them. They also out-rebounded the Wolfpack 37-32. When it came down to the moment of truth in the end, they just didn’t make enough shots and sometimes that’s what it comes down to. They lost this one 79-74.