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BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Syracuse entered the Legends Classic as an imperfect, undefeated team. Despite exiting the tournament winless, the Orange showed they’re closer to reaching their first NCAA Tournament since 2021 leaving the Barclays Center than when they entered it.

After barely squeaking by three nonconference mid-major opponents to begin the season, SU nearly overcame a 16-point second-half deficit in its 70-66 loss to Texas Thursday. Then on Friday against Texas Tech, it again showed signs of improvement, sticking with KenPom’s No. 19 team for 40 minutes.

“We made some progress this weekend,” head coach Adrian Autry said postgame. “Again, no one is happy with the results, this is not a moral victory, this is not moral victory talk… I thought we came down here and showed something that we haven’t shown in the first three games. I thought we showed some fight, I thought we showed some defensive potential. We just got to keep building on that.”

Syracuse’s (3-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 79-74 loss to Texas Tech (5-1, 0-0 Big 12) left it winless in the Legends Classic. However, the Orange consistently stuck with the Red Raiders, showing they can hang with the premier teams in the country. While SU’s deficit shrunk to just two with 13:12 remaining, it failed to tie or take the lead down the stretch.

“He was happy that we fought,” Eddie Lampkin Jr. said of Autry’s postgame message. “He really didn’t have that many negative things to say because before we (came) here, people thought we was going to be getting blown out. Just to be able to lose by five shows that we can fight.”

Needing to notch a defensive stand, the Orange applied full-court pressure trailing 69-64 with two minutes remaining. As the Red Raiders broke free, Kevin Overton slid under the basket. So, Darrion Williams — who paced TTU with 20 points — fired a halfcourt pass to him below the rim.

When the pass left Williams’ hands, SU’s Chris Bell was behind the 3-point line. However, once Overton secured it, Bell was in a full sprint chasing the ball down. The junior blocked Overton’s layup attempt before it reached the glass.

Donnie Freeman secured the rebound, helping the Orange get out in transition. As J.J. Starling advanced beyond halfcourt, Bell slipped into the corner wide open, putting his arms up to call for the ball. Starling proceeded to take three defenders with him into the paint before dishing to Bell with no defenders in his vicinity.

It’s the shot Syracuse needed and wanted. But after it missed off the back iron, Bell could only shake his head in disbelief as he ran back on defense.

“I shot it, I missed it, it would’ve been a good bucket,” Bell said. “It happens, you miss and make shots.”

On the ensuing possession, Williams rattled in a contested layup that pushed Texas Tech’s lead to 71-64 with just over a minute remaining. It was the story of the game for SU.

Entering halftime tied 31-31, the Orange’s had their best first half of the season courtesy of their 3-point shooting. Making 5-of-12 3s at the break — two from Bell, two from Starling and one from Elijah Moore — SU made its most first-half shots from deep this season. Yet they couldn’t emulate that success in the second half, shooting 1-for-9 beyond the arc.

“I thought we got good shots, I really did,” Autry said. “The shots that we’re getting are good shots. Corners 3s and transition off the drive and kick. I thought we got good looks. Again, the ball is not going in.”

Syracuse’s failure to make shots went hand in hand with its inability to break off a second-half run. After Jaquan Carlos drilled a mid-range jumper that cut their deficit to 44-42, the Orange went over five minutes without making a field goal.

Still, SU’s free throw shooting — where it went 24-of-28 following a 9-of-18 performance versus UT — kept it afloat before Bell sank its only 3 of the half to cut its deficit to 59-50 with eight minutes remaining.

“I think today we fought until the very end, even though we’re not playing to the best of our ability offensively,” Carlos said. “Today we lost by (five) and yesterday was a two-possession game, so it shows we can battle anybody.”

After Bell drained three free throws, where he was a perfect 11-of-11, Starling slammed home his first points of the second half at the 6:55 mark to bring Syracuse within seven. Starling finished with a game-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field. Meanwhile, Bell added 22 while shooting 4-for-9.

“We weren’t able to break through, but at the end of the day, we kept fighting,” Starling said.

Down the stretch, the Orange consistently turned to Starling and Bell. But Moore, who tied his career-high with eight points, aided them by converting on a layup, which cut the score to 64-59. Then Lampkin added just his fourth point to keep SU down two possessions with three minutes remaining.

Defensive improvements were one of Autry’s key takeaways from the tournament. The Orange held the Red Raiders to just one made field goal over the final three minutes. But that one was Williams’ lay-in, which gave TTU a seven-point advantage, all but sealing its win. Texas Tech then did what great teams do down the stretch — drill free throws. Syracuse played down to the final buzzer, but it wasn’t enough to earn its first Quad 1 win this season.

“I thought we had a chance to win two games down here, and we didn’t do that,” Autry said. “So we got to keep working to do a better job.”

Entering a daunting part of its schedule — which includes four Quad 1 opponents across five games — Syracuse didn’t show any reason to believe it was good enough to hang with the upper-echelon teams in the country across its first three games.

Autry consistently echoed that the Orange were still learning how to win throughout the first stretch of his second season at the helm. While the wins still need to be found, and Syracuse’s record is no longer perfect, it heads back upstate more prepared to start building toward an NCAA Tournament return than when it arrived in Brooklyn.

Published on November 22, 2024 at 9:21 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon