Poor shooting hands Syracuse first loss of the season
Poor shooting hands SU hoops first loss of the season
The Orange shoot 50% from the free throw line as their second half comeback falls short.
BROOKLYN — Syracuse Men’s Basketball lost its first game of the season to the Texas Longhorns on the opening night of the UKG Legends Classic in Brooklyn. The Orange could not overcome a 11-point deficit at halftime and lost 70-66.
Syracuse fought in front of what felt like a home crowd at a neutral site. However they went down early, allowing nine unanswered points to open the game and even being down as much as 16 points in the first half.
J.J. Starling led the Orange with 16 points while Eddie Lampkin contributed 14 of his own while leading the team with six assists. Jyare Davis led the Orange in rebounds with seven while also adding 11 points.
The Orange started the game 3-15 from the field which allowed Texas to take the 22-8 lead, but this team sees deficits early in games often this season.
“If you watched our first three or four games, we’ve been down. One thing I’ll say about this group is they keep their composure,” head coach Adrian Autry said.
To combat Texas’ offense, Autry and staff decided to go to a zone defense. This also allowed for Naheem McLeod to make an early appearance in the game, leading to his first points of the season on an offensive rebound and strong put back while drawing the foul.
Still Mcleod only saw four minutes. A huge down tick for the former starter that he was for the first 14 games of last season where he was a starter. McLeod had high hopes for this season and should still see opportunities to capitalize, especially as the team uses the zone more.
On the offensive end, shooting was a big issue for the Orange who shot 5-18 from the three point line and 9-18 from the free-throw line. The Longhorns shot 12-14 from the charity stripe making all the difference in a four point game.
“We know what we need to do, we battled back and just didn’t make the plays we needed to make at the end of the game. I was disappointed because that’s on us, stuff that we talked about and stuff that we could control,” coach Autry said.
Lampkin and Davis fueled a second-half comeback with strong defense, rebounding and an inside presence in the paint. At one point Lampkin scored seven consecutive points. The onslaught of strong drives to the bucket was followed by the crowd chanting “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!”
Lampkin said that things opened up for him in the second half after trying to find his footing in the first.
“I was trying to get warm in the first half, but I got on the glass a little,” Lampkin said. “Me and Jyare battled around the rim and we got on a run.”
While there are no moral victories, this team fought Thursday night. Coming in at 10.5-point underdogs after shaky wins over “lesser” opponents, nobody gave Syracuse much of a chance. Nonetheless, they were in it until the end. They will need the same fight that they showed in the second half, if they would like to defeat a scrappy Texas Tech team that will push the pace.
is the Sports Lead Producer for The NewsHouse.
is a photographer for The NewsHouse.