Red Raiders outlast Orange in back-and-forth Legends Classic showdown

Syracuse drops games on back-to-back nights, losing to Texas Tech on night two of the UKG Legends Classic, 79-74. It wasn’t enough in a game where the Orange cleaned up many of the previous night’s mistakes. The loss moves Syracuse to 3-2 on the season.

Chris Bell and J.J. Starling led the Orange on the night, with Starling scoring 27 and Bell scoring 22. 

“Their guard play caused us problems all game long,” Texas Tech Head Coach Grant McCasland said. “Starling was terrific, especially in the middle of the floor. And I thought Bell played his best game of the year.” 

Though the Orange lost, the game felt much different from the start. After Texas jumped out to a 9-0 start and eventually went up 18 on Thursday night, the Orange scored the first five points of the contest. 

The Orange also shot much better from the free-throw line on Friday night, shooting 24-28. Up 15 makes on ten more attempts. 

On Thursday night, Jyaire Davis said that the team would not make it a bigger deal than it was and they would be better. He was not wrong. 

When Texas Tech threatened to take command, Syracuse went on a 9-2 run right before the intermission to tie the game at 31. 

While many things looked up for Syracuse in this one, Texas Tech put on an offensive clinic led by Elijah Hawkins, the nation’s assist leader. Hawkins had six assists, leading the Red Raiders to a 17-assist-to-three-turnover ratio. 

Darrion Williams also scored 20 points in the win for the Red Raiders. 

“Coming off what happened yesterday, I was motivated to play well today,” Williams said. 

The Orange still have to find production from their offense. Like last night with Eddie Lampkin and Jyaire Davis, tonight was a two-man show. Lampkin was 2-7 from the field, Donnie Freeman was 1-7 from the field, and Jaquan Carlos was also 2-6 from the field. 

 “Sometimes you make shots, sometimes you don’t,” Syracuse Head Coach Adrian Autry said. “But I will say this: the guys we think can make the shots are shooting the basketball. You gotta have the right guys taking them.”

There is more work to be done, but for a Syracuse team that most thought would be blown out in Brooklyn, they battled. 

“To be losing by three to quad one shows that we shouldn’t even be in the conversation with mid-major teams. We should be blowing them out,” Eddie Lampkin said. 

Syracuse will return home on Nov. 27th to face Cornell. Syracuse will use this game to return to the win column before traveling to Tennessee on Dec. 3rd.