Wake Forest’s hot shooting give Syracuse loss to end 2024

The Syracuse Men’s Basketball team hopes 2025 will begin better than how 2024 ended.

With conference play about to go into full swing, the Orange lost to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 81-71 at home on Tuesday.

The Orange dug themselves into another early hole, falling behind 19-3 to begin the game. But thanks to 13 first half points from Kyle Cuffe Jr. the Orange worked back to cut the deficit 36-34 at halftime. Cuffe finished with a career-high 14 points.

Despite the Orange taking a 47-41 lead early in the second half, the Demon Deacons shot 50% from three in the second half and made their free down the stretch to prevent a final Syracuse push.

No Makes, No Press

Coach Adrian Autry indicated that his team played with more energy after instituting the full court press against Bucknell. It would be fair to reason the team would have continued to press against Wake Forest to get the team to bring intensity on defense early.

The Orange didn’t give themselves many opportunities to set up a press. The team started 2-8 shooting from the field with five turnovers. Even when Syracuse closed the score to 26-20 with a few minutes left in the half, it did not press off any dead-ball. It wasn’t until the final minutes of the game when the Orange began trapping Wake Forest in the backcourt. At that point, the team needed some luck for the press to make any difference.

With Syracuse shooting 37.5% from the field as a team and turning the ball over 18 times, the team needs to create extra opportunities for itself. Until the team gets more consistent shooting, or J.J. Starling returns to handle the ball, the offense is going to struggle.

Bench duo leads offensive charge

Outside a few last minute buckets from Jaquan Carlos, the offense on Tuesday consisted of Cuffe making his free throws, and Lucas Taylor hitting his three’s.

Cuffe had an excellent first half where he shot 8-9 from the free throw line and help get Wake Forest into foul trouble. Cuffe shot 0-9 from the field in the second half, but finished the game with a career-high 14 points thank to his 9-11 performance at the line.

Lucas Taylor kept his recent hot streak from three going in this game. The Georgia State transfer made multiple threes for the third game in a row, going 4-7 from behind the arc and tying Jaquan Carlos for the team-lead with 16 points.

With Taylor and Cuffe providing the team scoring, Autry kept starters Chris Bell and Elijah Moore on the bench in the second half. The two combined for 15 minutes.

Deacons get hot from three

Coming into the game, Wake Forest shot 26.5% from the three-point line, last in the ACC. Against Syracuse, the Demon Deacons had one of their best games from deep, shooting 47.4%. Five different players hit a three for Wake Forest (whereas Syracuse only had three).

If Syracuse can’t stop the worst shooting team in the conference, what’s going to happen against the conference’s elite teams? Autry may have to go back to the press if it forces the team to give more effort.

Next Up

The Orange will begin 2025 with a trip down to Tallahassee where  they play Florida State at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Seminoles are going through their own turmoil as six former players are suing head coach Leonard Hamilton for unpaid NIL compensation.