Syracuse clobbers Virginia 84-70 in regular season finale

With Syracuse and Virginia locked into the 14 and 9-seeds for the ACC tournament, this game meant nothing for Greensboro. Despite this, the Orange showed up with an energy Virginia simply could not keep up with. SU dominated all night, taking the lead in the first minute and never looking back, winning 84-70.

The Orange showed a defensive prowess that hasn’t shown up all year, pummeling the Cavaliers on defense with intensity by forcing 12 turnovers and grabbing six steals. Senior Lucas Taylor played a crucial role in shutting down Virginia’s leader in points per game, guard Issac McKneely. Taylor spent a majority of his 31 minutes defending the Junior, holding him to just nine points. 

“He had to play against McKneely who I think is an all conference guy and I thought he did a tremendous job with him,” head coach Adrian Autry said, “Defensively he did a really good job, made it hard for him and y’know that’s what we need Lucas to do.”

Taylor helped keep Virginia at an ice-cold 20 percent from three, but the guard himself shot lights out. The Raleigh native collected 15 points, shooting 3-5 from beyond the arc in his final home game for the Orange. 

“Lucas has been shooting the ball really well as of late,” Autry said.

The rest of Syracuse’s seniors also put forth a mighty effort in their final game in the dome. Center Eddie Lampkin and forward Jyare Davis both played a major role in the win. Both were scoring machines, combining for 24 of the Orange’s 43 first half points. The Orange led 43-26 at the half and kept away from the second half collapses they’ve seen all year.

Davis ends his season with a highlight-filled 15 point performance, nailing two deep threes with four assists. His main contributions still were not offensively tonight, but it is hard to ignore the tough shots the Senior knocked down early to ignite the offense with Lampkin the other main piston in Syracuse’s offensive engine.

The Cavaliers had no answer for Lampkin, who was unstoppable in the first, notching 14 points and seven rebounds, leading both stats for Syracuse in the first half. The graduate student finished with game-highs for Syracuse, notching a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Eddie owning the paint 💪💪

📺 ACCN pic.twitter.com/0MbptQP5B0

— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) March 9, 2025

“I thought he did a really good job of getting to our spots and y’know making passes out and not turning it over,” Autry said.

As the ACC Tournament approaches, some drew a connection between Lampkin’s physical style of play to former NC State Center DJ Burns, a star from last year’s March Madness tournament.

“I think that there is,” Virginia Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ron Sanchez said. “Obviously DJ was a little bigger but that’s a good comparison to the way he plays.”

The Orange hope to replicate NC State’s 2024 run in a similar way as they head down to Charlotte as the 14 seed. To make a run of their own they have to have a lot of good luck and have to play all 40 minutes. They have seen double digit leads squandered plenty, but now is a better time than any to get hot. No matter how the season ends, Autry wants his team to be remembered by their unwillingness to give in.

“They kept fighting and everybody that followed us knew they were [always] in the game,” Autry said. “Obviously we didn’t close them out, but it wasn’t like you know, we just laid down. So again I’m proud of our team for that.”

Syracuse starts the ACC tournament Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against the 11-seed Florida State. The Seminoles beat the Orange earlier in conference play.