Ooh, you almost had it… you gotta be quicker than that.
The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team had its prey locked in its sights against the Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday afternoon, but ultimately let it get away with a 101-95 overtime road loss inside Cassell Coliseum.
Syracuse led by as many as 13 but it allowed Virginia Tech to come back and take the lead late in the game. Trailing by three with 4.5 seconds left, Jaquan Carlos managed to force overtime with a last second three from the right wing. The Orange failed to get stops in extra time, however, dropping the contest and falling to 4-6 all-time at Virginia Tech.
Jaydon Young led all scorers with 26 points — 24 of which came after halftime. Jyare Davis led Syracuse with 21 points while JJ Starling had 16. Eddie Lampkin had another double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
With both teams’ defensive limitations on display, Syracuse shot 19-29 from the floor in the first half to Virginia Tech’s 15-26. The Orange went into the break with a 47-38 lead. Virginia Tech came roaring back in the second half behind Young to take the lead late. The Hokies shot 17-28 from the floor in the second half and 5-7 in overtime.
“We just couldn’t get stops. Our defense didn’t hold up, as you could tell — 101 points,” Adrian Autry said post-game. “That’s a lot of points especially on the road. It’s hard to win on the road when you let a team score like that.”
Elijah Moore, who missed his third consecutive game dealing with a toe injury, warmed up in Blacksburg according to reports, but did not play in the game.
Syracuse lost its first overtime game of the season. To the takeaways.
House of cards
Syracuse led by as many as 13 but Virginia Tech came all the way back to tie the game at 70 with just over four minutes to play. Virginia Tech made a 14-1 run from the 8:30 mark to the 4:42 mark that tied the game. Jaden Schutt gave the Hokies its first lead of the second half with 1:22 to play; Mylyjael Poteat put his team up three with under 30 seconds to go.
Trailing by one possession, Syracuse would get one last with chance 4.5 seconds left. Down by three, Carlos dribbled up the righthand side of the court, freed himself with an inside-out and pulled up for three. With the game in doubt Carlos buried it and forced overtime.
The Orange had its chance in the extra period, but its best shot at the win was to protect the double-digit lead and close the game out down the stretch of regulation. The Orange couldn’t get stops on the defensive end and didn’t look particularly interested in working the ball inside to Lampkin on the other end through that time. As part of that Hokie run, Starling missed three consecutive free throws and had a costly turnover that allowed Virginia Tech to draw closer.
Brian Bishop-Imagn Images
ACC Tournament berth up in the air… then clinched
Syracuse came into the day 14th in the ACC looking to lock up a bid to the ACC Tournament. A win would do just that. The bottom three teams in the 18-member league will not qualify for the conference tournament.
The Orange lost the contest, meaning an ACC Tournament bid hadn’t been secured just yet. However, a loss by both Boston College and NC State would mean Syracuse would still lock up a bid to the ACC Tournament. Both NC State and Boston College lost on Saturday. The Orange are two games up on both NC State and Boston College, meaning Syracuse will head to Charlotte for the ACC Tournament.
Even if Syracuse drops its next two games and the Wolfpack and Eagles win their next two, Syracuse would own the edge in the tie-breaker scenario.
Paint points advantage and missed opportunities
For the second straight game Syracuse knew exactly where to attack its opponent. The Orange worked the ball inside to Lampkin and Davis for most of this game as the two combined for 35 points, mostly at the rim.
Virginia Tech, one of the nation’s laggards in two-point percentage defense, once again had its weak interior defense on display with poor rim protection.
Curiously, Syracuse got away from its inside game during the final stretch when Virginia Tech was making its run and — while the Orange attempted to go into Davis on a pair of occasions — didn’t establish the post in overtime.
“I don’t think they did much. I think it was a lot of us. I think we got stagnant. When we got it in there we kind of settled a little bit at times. And then (there) were times we went in there and we missed some close shots,” Autry said. “I think it was more what we didn’t do.”
Syracuse had a 48-38 points in the paint advantage on the game but went away from what worked as Virginia Tech made its run late in the second half. That was a missed opportunity for a team struggling to get guard penetration late in the game.