Orange upset 16th-ranked Ohio State in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

In an aggressive ACC-Big Ten Challenge game, the Orange (4-2) delivered Ohio State (6-1) its first loss of the season after the Syracuse men’s basketball team won over the Buckeyes, 72-62. This was the Orange’s first road win of the season.

In their last seven matchups before tonight, the Buckeyes had a 5-2 series record over Syracuse.

“It was a really tough game coming in here,” Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim said in a postgame press conference. “We haven’t played well, and we hadn’t shot well, and we haven’t defended. Somehow after that bad start, we did start to defend. From that point on, our defense was really good.”

The Buckeyes led most of the first half, holding a nearly consistent 7-point lead over the Orange for almost five minutes. However, with the help of Elijah Hughes and Marek Dolezaj (who had a combined total of 15 points), Syracuse was able to conclude the first 20 minutes only trailing by a bucket while Ohio State led 31-29.

“I thought the real key in the half was that Marek came in and hit two threes,” Boeheim said. “He’s been shooting the ball pretty well, and he made two threes to kind of keep us in there when Oshae (Brissett) was out.”

Syracuse sophomore forward Oshae Brissett began the second half with a layup 10 seconds in to tie the score. Shortly after, newly-returned Orange senior guard Frank Howard sank a three with an assist from Brissett to give Syracuse a one-point lead over Ohio, 34-33.

Eventually, Ohio State’s Kyle Young would make a layup to tie the score again, 41-41. But the Buckeyes didn’t keep the lead for long. Brissett drove to the basket for another layup about halfway through the second, and the Buckeyes never regained the lead.

This game went exceptionally slow, as it seemed there was a foul call on every shot on every possession. While the Orange ended with 28 fouls — and Dolezaj, Howard and Bourama Sidibe all fouling out — Ohio State concluded with only 17 fouls and all of their players.

“Defense was better, but we just got hurt on the foul line in a bad way,” Boeheim said. “Our overall defense was good; we guarded the three-point line better than we have all year, and we did a good job inside.”

The Orange had their best shooting percentages of the season, making 48.9 percent of field goals and 45.8 percent beyond the arc. Before this game, Syracuse was averaging 34.4 percent in field goals and 24.3 percent in threes.

Junior guard Tyus Battle ended the game with 20 points, while Hughes followed with 18 and Brissett with 14.

“It was Tyus and really Oshae and Elijah in the second half that made some big plays,” Boeheim said. “We’ve been shooting 20 percent from the three, so it had to get better. Maybe it got a little better than we would have thought.”

The Orange will face Cornell at the Carrier Dome on Saturday at 8 p.m.