For the second consecutive game, Syracuse’s opponent was finding ways to beat its vaunted 2-3 zone. The Orange found itself in a hole against Georgia Tech, one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s bottom-feeders, and needed to change something.

After the first basket of the second half, SU head coach Jim Boeheim went with a full-court press. Sometimes it worked — the Orange would create a turnover or speed up the game.

But the Yellow Jackets solved this puzzle, too. Daniel Miller got open dunks. GT only turned the ball over five times. SU couldn’t come back, and for the second straight home game, one of the worst teams in the conference handed Syracuse a shocking loss.

“We let Georgia Tech get too comfortable and once they got comfortable in the first half,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “They were making shots, making plays and we weren’t. Basically the story of we tried to turn the switch on too late.”

The Yellow Jackets (14-16, 5-12 ACC) dismantled any type of defense that the Orange threw at it. They built an eight-point halftime lead against the 2-3 zone and effectively broke Syracuse’s (26-4, 13-4) press to stun the No. 7 Orange 67-62 on Tuesday in front of 26,766 in the Carrier Dome. Fair scored 28 points, but Georgia Tech’s balanced offense — Trae Golden led the team with 16 — was enough to hand SU its fourth loss in five games.

Golden said the Yellow Jackets didn’t take many cues from the way that then-No. 12 Virginia dismantled Syracuse’s zone — the personnel is too different — but GT found ways to score against perhaps the nation’s most famous defense.

Forwards Robert Carter Jr. and Kammeon Holsey hit tough shots in close and Georgia Tech made 3-of-6 3-pointers in the opening frame to force the Orange — already without Jerami Grant — into playing from behind throughout the game.

In the first half, the Yellow Jackets shot 46 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent from the free-throw line. The Orange’s splits were 38, 20 and 40.

“When you have guys like Dan and Rob in the middle it really affects it because not only can they score, they’re great passers out of that,” said Golden, who went 2-for-5 from 3-point range. “They facilitated it and we attacked it from there.”

So, trailing by eight at the half to one of the worst team in the conference, the Orange made a change looking for a spark.

Fair opened the second half with an and-one and SU went with a press, but it didn’t help. GT scored on seven of its first 12 possessions in the second frame and led by as many as 13. Had it not been for Fair’s individual performance, Syracuse’s most embarrassing loss of the season could have been nearly as lopsided as Saturday’s to then-No. 12 Virginia.

“For six or seven games, obviously, our offense has not been good enough. We have not shot the ball well and gotten in a hole,” Boeheim said. “Our defense is not as good as it has been, but our defense is reasonably good. We’re struggling to score points.”

And as the Orange struggled to score — players other than Fair and Ennis combined for just 16 points — the defense continued to struggle to make stops. GT only made one 3 in the second half, but improved its field-goal percentage to 48 and only turned the ball over five times against the press.

In fact, the only times that Georgia Tech consistently struggled on offense was when there was no defense at all. The Yellow Jackets missed five of their first 10 free throws in the second half and let Syracuse climb back in.

A furious one-man rally by Fair pulled the Orange within two with 36 seconds remaining. With GT struggling at the line things were setting up for another miracle SU comeback.

But Golden went to the line and it was just like he was in his driveway.

“I saw my dad standing up, so for me it just felt kind of like I was back home,” Golden said. “So I just knocked them down.”

He made six in a row. Syracuse couldn’t answer, and once it finally did, it was too late.

There weren’t enough stops. There weren’t enough makes. And, despite his best efforts, Fair left the Dome for the final time with a two-game losing streak at home.

“I like the way we fought at the end, but it’s just a little too late,” Fair said. “We’ve got to just find a way to fight like that the whole game.”

Published on March 4, 2014 at 9:16 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2