Three takeaways from Syracuse’s 79-75 loss to Georgetown

I hate to say it, but the script uniforms are cursed.

Time to remove them from the rotation.

The Syracuse Orange couldn’t hold on to a 10-point first half lead against the Georgetown Hoyas. The Orange went cold in the second half, shooting 36.1% from the floor and 21.4% from three after the break. That all lead to a 79-75 win for the Georgetown Hoyas in a game the Orange probably should have won.

Here’s our three takeaways from the loss.

Choose your fighter

Syracuse has been floating between the 2-3 zone and the 1-1-3 zone through the past four games. It became readily apparent what the strengths and weaknesses of each set were against Georgetown. If Syracuse played the 2-3, a player like Aminu Mohammed could easily put the ball on the floor and penetrate. He routinely used his athleticism to dance around Orange defenders to score with easy.

If Syracuse played the 1-1-3, there were too many gaps that Georgetown found on the arc for open three point shots. That gave Kaiden Rice and Donald Carey many chances to give the Hoyas a jolt with a triple. The Orange have to get crafty about which zone they utilize against opponents, and they’ve got to choose the right time to change. Those decisions could decide if Syracuse can hold off opponents down the stretch.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Working inside

The Orange found an advantage in the first half that gave the big lead. The paint was open for business and Syracuse took advantage of that fact with Jesse Edwards and Jimmy Boeheim, with a guest appearance from Frank Anselem. That all led to 22 points in the paint for the Orange in the first half. And even though Syracuse missed some easy looks down in the second half, the team still had 20 points in the paint after break. The Orange found room on the baseline in the first half and just muscled their way to the basket in the second half. The inside game worked against the Hoyas.

The definition of insanity

Remember the old Albert Einstein saying?

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

I’ve beaten this drum before, but now it’s become a trend that is impossible to ignore anymore. Syracuse is awful coming out of the halftime locker room. We saw it against Indiana, Villanova and now Georgetown. The Orange continue to give opponents a chasm to get back into the game with slow performances and questionable decisions after the break. It’s all well and good if Syracuse can get out to early leads, but it’ll be all for naught if opponents routinely take advantage of slow Orange starts in the second half.

Once was a coincidence. Now it’s a habit that needs to break.