Syracuse men’s basketball: three takeaways from 96-76 loss to Georgia Tech

Welp, the worst-shooting team in the ACC just put on a clinic against the Syracuse Orange, as Georgia Tech dominated them 96-76. The easy solution is to permanently ban green rally towels from the Dome, but there were far more ugly things on display than the strangest giveaway of the season. Let’s not sugarcoat any of this...

Agony, Thy Name is Miles Kelly

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Talk about a career-day. We knew going into the game that GT’s sophomore guard was easily their best offensive weapon - he is the only Yellow Jacket to average double-digit points this season - but I doubt many people had him dropping 30 on the Dome court. The career high is thanks to 17 points in the first half alone and a 7/14 clip from distance. Kelly was draining shots from all over the court, and the sparse Dome crowd (of way less than the paid attendance of 18,522) could only sit back and groan. What’s worse is that he wasn’t the only one. How bad was it really? Well, you might call it...

Record Setting Ineptitude

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In addition to Kelly’s outburst, most of the other Georgia Tech starters had great offensive games as well. Lance Terry had an even better clip from deep, sinking seven of 10 shots from the arc. He finished with 24 points, Kyle Sturdivant also hit 20, and Ja’von Franklin tallied a triple double (14 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists) as the 2-3 did nothing all night to stop the onslaught. It was such a special night for GT that this group set ALL TIME PROGRAM RECORDS in three-pointers made (18) and assists (27) in a single game.

Things got so bad that in the second half, Jim Boeheim begrudgingly put his team in the man-to-man he insisted they weren’t capable of playing just a few days ago. By then, it was far too late to make a difference. And as if the current product isn’t already getting painful to watch, the ‘Cuse faithful may soon have to deal with...

Roster Turmoil

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This is less about what happened on the court and more about what I saw and heard in the locker room after this debacle. During the postgame presser, Coach Boeheim criticized Chris Bell’s recent performance at practice, which was his reasoning for not playing the freshman forward for the second straight game. It’s worth mentioning that soon after that, Bell was sitting alone at his locker, clearly distraught. You have to figure since he didn’t see the floor in such a lopsided affair, that probably doesn’t bode well for his immediate future.

Then there’s Jesse Edwards, who all but confirmed that he will not be returning to the Orange next season. When asked about Senior Day coming up on Saturday, Jesse said he’s excited for his parents and brother to be in attendance, and to “come out one last time” and “have a great last home game.” With the uncertainty behind possible transfers out and Judah Mintz looking to put his name in for the NBA Draft, this roster could be decimated before it ever came close to reaching its full potential.

Where do you think Syracuse men’s basketball goes from here? Where can the program go in this state?