3 takeaways from Syracuse basketball’s 88-83 loss at Wake Forest

The Syracuse Orange basketball team fell by a final score of 88-83 at Wake Forest on Saturday. The Orange led for over 28 minutes but wilted in the final ten minutes from Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Myles Colvin led the way for Wake Forest with 32 points and 8 rebounds on 9-12 shooting. Tre’Von Spillers had 16 points while Juke Harris added 13. Syracuse was led by Donnie Freeman’s career-high 28 points. Nate Kingz poured in 20 points on 5-9 outside shooting and Naithan George had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Both teams had hot shooting nights as Wake Forest was 33-57 from the floor (58%) and 9-16 from three (56%). Syracuse shot 28-54 from the floor (52%) and 13-26 from three (50%). The Demon Deacons out-rebounded the Orange 30-18 and had a 46-20 points in the paint edge.

Syracuse led 46-42 at the half. The Orange knocked down a season-high 10 threes in the first-half threes on 18 attempts. Syracuse had a first half points off turnovers edge of 11-4.

To the takeaways.

Orange foldonce more

Syracuse led for over 28 minutes on the game and looked to be in control. With the Orange holding a four point lead midway through the second half, Wake Forest hit back-to-back threes to take the lead and wouldn’t look back.

Up by four, Syracuse went to a 2-3 zone for the first time all day which resulted in a second-chance three from Colvin. The Orange quickly exited the zone defense but Harris hit a three to take the lead on the next play which changed the complexion of the game. A pair of free throws made it eight straight points for Wake Forest. For the second Saturday in a row it was an 8-0 run midway through the second half that took Syracuse out of the game.

The wheels fell off the wagon from there as the defense broke down and surrendered easy looks at the rim. The Demon Deacons jumped out to a double-digit lead with 3:07 to play.

When Syracuse is in these situations the defensive miscommunications lead to breakdowns which results in easy looks for the other team.

This team has taken a lot of hits, which begs the question if the pilling up of loses make it more difficult to bounce back at this point in the season.

The Wake Forest game marked the 15th time Syracuse has been outscored in the second half this season.

Road woespersist

Winning on the road is never easy, especially in conference games.

With that out of the way, Syracuse has really struggled on the road this season with just three wins away from the dome. Those wins? Drexel, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh. The Orange is a combined 3-9 in road and neutral court games this season.

Syracuse is 11-32 away from home in the Adrian Autry era.

Freeman bounces back

After getting ejected with a pair of technical fouls last Saturday against North Carolina, Freeman showed some toughness against Wake Forest, albeit in a loss. He finished with a career best 28 points on 9-13 shooting. His five threes were also a career-high.

Syracuse wants to isolate Freeman in mismatch scenarios on offense, which is sometimes effective. At other times, the offense stalls and results in tough, contested twos by Freeman as four guys are content to stand and watch. Its a mixed bag but Freeman was effective as he made shots at Wake.

Credit to him for bouncing back after a frustrating result a week ago.