Syracuse men’s basketball: three takeaways from the Orange’s 75-71 loss to Georgetown

The Syracuse Orange (5-5) will once again need to regroup and return to the drawing board following a 75-71 home loss on Saturday to the Georgetown Hoyas (8-2) in the 100th all-time matchup between both programs.

Syracuse at one point took a six-point lead (64-58) with around eight and a half minutes left to go, but managed just seven points while the Hoyas made timely defensive stops and outscored the Orange by 10 points over the rest of the contest.

In a game with plenty to discuss, here are the major takeaways from the rivalry loss:

The turning points for the Orange

The first half saw both teams remain knotted up pretty much the entire way until halftime — Syracuse never led by more than five points (9-4) while Georgetown (20-17) held no more than a one-possession lead.

Things changed coming out of the break from there. During one play in the second half, Elijah Moore was called for a foul while Jayden Epps dribbled the ball up the court:

The crowd didn’t like it. Neither did Syracuse, with one technical foul getting assessed to Lucas Taylor and Georgetown’s Drew Fielder. The energy in the JMA Wireless Dome completely shifted from there: the crowd stood up and momentum did indeed swing in favor of Syracuse.

From the 12:59 marker in the game, the Orange over the next three minutes took its largest lead of the game. Jaquan Carlos (15 points, 5 assists) made six free throws over the next roughly three minutes, which was followed up by an and-one layup from Jyare Davis (16 points, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block in 24 minutes off the bench) which put Syracuse up six points.

That’s where there was a second turning point which really (and slowly) pulled the energy slowly toward the Hoyas.

With eight minutes left until the end of the game, Syracuse made two field goals the rest of the way — a two-point jumper from Elijah Moore (10 points, 4 rebounds, 4/14 shooting, 2/9 from three) and a three from Carlos. After that three, Syracuse managed two points in the final four minutes. The stalled offense ultimately allowed Georgetown to come back and seal the deal for good.

Two-point offense will continue to be the go-to

The tend has and will continue to be this year’s Syracuse team relying on getting to the basket to generate its offense. Specifically since J.J. Starling’s absence began and with more of a sample size for the Orange’s outside shooting, it’s clear that might be the only avenue to pursue with scoring the ball.

Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images

The lack of outside shooting manifested once again. Syracuse shot 25% (4/16) from three. Chris Bell (3 points, 0/4 shooting, 0/3 from three) once again had a pretty quiet day offensively. Bell is now down to 25% from three on the season overall on 4.9 attempts per game, clearly some significant regression after he shot 42% on over six attempts per game last year. Moore and Donnie Freeman (8 points, 3/7 shooting) were the only two players to attempt at least three outside shots; five didn’t attempt a three at all.

Syracuse going 21/29 on free throws combined with 34 paint points gave the team nearly 78% of its total points. Even with that persistent to attack inside, the offense again stalled late and the Hoyas still outscored the Orange by 12 point in the paint.

The math will eventually continue to be a problem unless Syracuse improves its efficiency from the outside or forces more turnovers to get less looks in the half court and more in transition. Even with Georgetown going just 6/25 (24%) from three overall, a big performance from someone like Epps (27 points, 11/15 shooting) will always create a big disadvantage for the Orange until Starling’s return or the scoring gets made up somewhere else.

The rotation is slowly getting thinner

It’s clear the units coach Adrian Autry will go to are very much defined at this point. Eddie Lampkin (18 points, 5 rebounds), Carlos and Moore all played north of 35 minutes against the Hoyas. The two notable points on the rotation from the game: Freeman getting benched most of the second half for Davis and Taylor staying in at the three over Bell.

Regardless of what happens going forward, those are going to be Autry’s seven guys until Starling returns. Kyle Cuffe and Naheem McLeod each played less than five minutes. That checks off everyone who played versus Georgetown.

Bell’s lack of efficiency is the biggest of concerns. Syracuse should be at least stable in the frontcourt, but the backcourt/perimeter is where a lot can go right… and sometimes where performance isn’t up to par.

Now it’s your turn: what are your takeaways from the Orange’s loss to Georgetown?