Save for a blowout loss to now-No. 1 Tennessee on the road earlier this month, Syracuse basketball so far in the 2024-25 campaign had kept things close against other power-conference foes.
That didn’t transpire on Saturday afternoon in the Big Apple. The Orange committed a ridiculous number of turnovers, and Maryland held a large edge in points off turnovers, among other areas.
The Terrapins, out of the Big Ten Conference, crushed Syracuse basketball by a final count of 87-60 in the 2024 Gotham Classic from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. I love my alma mater so much, but the ‘Cuse is mightily struggling these days, and it’s not just because junior guard J.J. Starling, the team’s leading scorer, is out due to an injury.
With this outcome, Maryland moves to 10-2 overall, and the Terrapins look every bit the part of an NCAA Tournament squad come the spring of 2025. The Orange, meanwhile, falls to 5-6 overall and will next host Bucknell on December 28. In their all-time series together, Maryland is now 6-4 versus the ‘Cuse.
The Orange will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 28 vs. Bucknell at the JMA Dome.
‘Cuse x @SRCdefense pic.twitter.com/XrTy9ILCrX
— Syracuse Athletics (@Cuse) December 21, 2024
Syracuse basketball embarrassed itself in a setback to Maryland in New York City.
The Orange, which has lost four of its past five games, went 8-of-16 from 3-point land and got nice bench contributions from freshman shooting guard Elijah Moore (16 points) and redshirt junior guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. (10 points).
But Syracuse basketball players committed a whopping 21 turnovers. Maryland led 25-11 in points off turnovers. The Terrapins also had advantages of 41-31 in total rebounds, 14-6 in offensive boards, 15-4 in second-chance points, 42-26 in paint points, 26-17 in assists and 15-5 in steals.
Besides Moore and Cuffe, the ‘Cuse got solid outputs from freshman power forward Donnie Freeman, who tallied 15 points and seven rebounds, and graduate student center Eddie Lampkin Jr., who collected nine points, 10 boards and four assists.
Beyond that, Syracuse basketball didn’t get much from the rest of its players who saw the court against Maryland. Senior point guard Jaquan Carlos, who had put together a couple of solid games of late, played all 40 minutes versus the Terrapins, but he only produced two points, three rebounds and four assists.
Junior small forward Chris Bell only had two points, while senior forward Jyare Davis didn’t score at all. Senior guard Lucas Taylor, though, did generate six points, three rebounds and two steals while connecting on two 3-pointers.
I readily acknowledge that losing Starling is tough to overcome, but if I’m being honest, this team looks lost. A lot of my fellow fans are extremely frustrated with the state of the program under second-year head coach Adrian Autry, and I understand that sort of sentiment.
Syracuse basketball is about one-third done with its 2024-25 regular season, and unless the Orange vastly improves, it’s going to be a long few months ahead for the ‘Cuse and its fan base.
