Syracuse men’s basketball’s cold streak continues in third straight loss

When ACC play began a few weeks ago, Syracuse men’s basketball started hot. The Orange won three of their first four conference contests. But now, in the thick of their league slate, SU seems to have gone cold. 

On a single digit day outside, Syracuse failed to catch fire indoors on Jim Boeheim Court, falling to the Miami Hurricanes 85-76. The loss was SU’s third consecutive defeat. 

“Talent is just not enough,” head coach Adrian Autry said . “We gotta find a way to do a better job.”

Syracuse struggled from the opening tip. Miami started the game on a 9-0 run which forced Coach Autry to call a timeout under 4 minutes in. 

Out of the timeout, junior guard Naithan George hit two big three pointers to jumpstart the Orange offense. Just 5:30 into Saturday’s game, the guard had already equaled his points tally from Thursday night against Virginia Tech. 

But the Orange struggled to keep pace with Miami’s offense. The visitors entered the Dome on Saturday with four players averaging double digit points per game, and they all contributed in the first half. 

There were several moments throughout the first twenty minutes which brought Orange fans to their feat. A little over ten minutes in, senior forward William Kyle III tossed up a lob for freshman forward Sadiq White, who threw down one of his signature slams. Then a few minutes later, freshman guard Kiyan Anthony caused an eruption in the crowd when he posterized Tru Washington with a strong two-handed jam. 

Seconds before, Anthony had knocked down a big triple to make it a one possession game. It was all a part of 7 points in 3 minutes for the guard. SU’s freshman finished the game with 13 points in 21 minutes played, both of which are career highs in ACC play. 

“I think I’ve proven to myself and to everybody that I can contribute to this team,” Anthony said. “When I’m given an opportunity with 20 plus minutes, I feel like I can produce more, and I feel like I showed that today.”

In the second half, sophomore forward Donnie Freeman began to come to life. After just four first half points, Freeman knocked down back-to-back jumpers to cut Miami’s lead to four with 14 minutes to play. The sophomore finished the game with an efficient 7-of-11 from the field. It was a big bounce-back from his career-low shooting night on Thursday, in which he went 3-of-14 from the field at just 21%. 

Eventually, Syracuse’s stars couldn’t hold off the Hurricanes any longer. After senior guard JJ Starling missed a transition dunk, Miami took the ball down the court and into the corner, where Timotej Malovec hit his second three ball of the day to push the visitors’ lead to 7. 

From that point on, the Hurricanes mopped the floor. Malik Reneau powered his team to its largest lead of the day about halfway through the second half, prompting Autry to use another timeout. Miami’s main man had 16 points by that point of the game, followed closely by Shelton Henderson and Tru Washington, who each had 14. 

Syracuse struggled to claw their way back into the game, in large part because of the inefficiency of their go-to-guys from beyond the arc, who Miami nullified with a well executed gameplan. 

“We thought that was the biggest part of their firepower (3 point shooting), with Kingz and Betsey. Whenever you have a guy shooting almost 60% from 3 (Betsey), he’s gonna be at the top of the scouting report,” Miami head coach Jai Lucas said. 

Miami’s scouting paid off. The Hurricanes limited Betsey to just one three pointer made on only three attempts. 

“It was just kind of hard to get looks because they were top blocking, so they just wouldn’t even let us get to the ball,” Betsey said. 

With 1:40 to go, guard Nate Kingz finally got his first three pointer of the day, keeping his streak of at least one 3-pointer in every ACC contest this season alive. But it was too little too late for the Orange.

After an anti-climatic ending in which the Orange failed to generate a late surge, the final buzzer sounded and Miami exited the Dome as 85-76 winners. 

For the Orange, turnovers weren’t the problem. For the first time in ACC play, Syracuse gave the ball away less than 10 times. Instead, the issue was rebounding. 

“They’re a big physical team (Miami), and they send three guys to the glass pretty consistently. By us being extended, I thought we gave up a little bit of inside position,” Autry said. 

The Orange were outrebounded 37 to 21 by the Hurricanes. It’s the fewest boards Syracuse has secured in a game since March of 2024. 

“I feel like we’ve been struggling with rebounding for a little bit now,” William Kyle said. “I feel like we need to do a better job of locating the guys we know are going to crash, but also getting some long rebounds and some 50-50 balls that could go both ways.”

The schedule isn’t going to get any easier for Syracuse. On Tuesday, the Orange will travel to North Carolina for a clash with Will Wade’s NC State. The Wolfpack are one of the three quad one teams that the Orange will face in their next four games. It’s an important stretch for an SU team that desperately needs some resume boosters ahead of March. 

“This season provides us with more opportunities than we’ve had in the past,” Autry said. “So still a lot of basketball to be played, and I think this team and my coaching staff … can change this and turn this thing around.”