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Syracuse has struggled mightily this season. The Orange narrowly escaped three tight nonconference bouts with Le Moyne, Colgate and Youngstown State to open the season.

Since then, SU dropped six of its next eight games, including embarrassing losses to Tennessee and most recently, Maryland.

Through its early mishaps, Syracuse’s shortcomings boiled down to a lack of 3-point shooting and a nonexistent defense that allowed 80.2 points per game.

After SU fell to the Terrapins 87-60 at the Gotham Classic, its next game against a Bucknell team on a six-game losing streak looked to be the perfect opportunity to right the ship. Despite pulling out the victory, ball handling proved to be a key issue.

Syracuse (6-6, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeated Bucknell (4-9, 0-0 Patriot League) 75-63, but a season-high 21 SU turnovers allowed the Bison to stay within striking distance for the entire contest. It’s yet another area to add to the laundry list of things Syracuse needs to improve, proving to head coach Adrian Autry SU’s still not where he wants it to be.

“I have a standard, and we’re not there yet,” Autry said. “You could see my frustration. I got to try to find the guys that are going to compete at that standard.”

Through the Orange’s first 10 games, ball handling wasn’t an issue. Syracuse tallied under 13 turnovers in every game but one to open the season. But against Maryland, a weakness in that department emerged.

The Terrapins forced 21 SU giveaways, by far its season-high. Autry continuously switched between different lineup combinations to try to fix the issue. But it was no use. Syracuse racked up 12 turnovers at half, and added nine in the final 20 minutes.

Syracuse’s sloppy play transitioned to its final nonconference game versus Bucknell. Even as the Orange began to build leads, turnovers leading to easy shots for the Bison allowed them to keep crawling back into the game.

The Orange started on the wrong foot immediately. On their first possession, Elijah Moore missed a jumper, but Bucknell’s Achile Spadone stole the ball from Donnie Freeman after he corralled the rebound. Though the Bison missed shots on back-to-back possessions, they took their first lead on a Josh Bascoe layup after a Moore pass to Chris Bell was deflected into the air by Ruot Bijiek.

Bucknell built a 4-2 lead three minutes in, and Freeman followed with his second giveaway of the day. Autry said Freeman, who led SU with five turnovers, and Eddie Lampkin Jr., who contributed four, need to play cleaner basketball if the Orange want to have success in ACC play. The pair both recorded double-doubles against the Bison, but still hurt SU with poor ball handling.

“We need (Lampkin) to play the way he played today, obviously taking care of the basketball a little bit more, him and Donnie,” Autry said. “We run a lot through them, so they’ve gotta understand they’ve gotta take care of the basketball a bit more.”

Syracuse played cleanly for the next eight minutes, only logging one giveaway in that time. This allowed SU to pull ahead for the first time, embarking on a 9-2 run to go up 12-6. It was clear if the Orange figured out how to hold onto the ball, they could dominate Bucknell.

But that’s not what happened. Instead, they reverted back to their sloppy ways. With 9:40 remaining in the first, Jaquan Carlos pulled down the rebound on a Bijiek misfired triple but immediately handed possession back to the Bison.

A minute later, Lampkin recorded his first giveaway of the game. Bucknell didn’t score off the Colorado transfer’s mistake, but after Lampkin notched his fourth board, Jyáre Davis killed Syracuse’s momentum again. Bascoe stole the ball from Davis and bagged a 3 seconds later to give Bucknell a 21-19 lead.

SU’s giveaways turned a four point lead into a two-point deficit in just two minutes. From there, though, Syracuse embarked on a 24-10 run to cap the half, with only two more turnovers from Lampkin and Freeman.

Still, the Orange only led by 43-31 at half, mostly due to their 10 turnovers. Autry was frustrated by Syracuse’s effort, feeling it wasn’t living up to the standards he set for them.

Out of the break, nothing seemed to immediately change. Two minutes in, a pass from Lampkin bounced off Moore’s hands and directly to Noah Williamson, who dished to Bascoe for a wide open 3. Bell did the same on the Orange’s next possession, leading to a Williamson triple. Just like that, Syracuse found its lead cut down to six.

SU calmed down after that stretch, but still couldn’t pull away. It failed to build a lead of more than eight, as the two squads traded blows for the next seven minutes.

With the Orange leading 50-44, they had two prime opportunities to extend their advantage. After Kyle Cuffe Jr.’s missed 3, Davis snagged the board, but was again stripped of the ball. Though Bascoe whiffed on a wide-open layup, Lampkin tallied his third turnover moments later.

Syracuse totaled five more turnovers the rest of the way, though it was fortunate Bucknell only added two points from the giveaways.

The Orange got lucky the end result wasn’t more disastrous. Bascoe and Williamson missed shots that could’ve brought the game within two points, the closest it would’ve been since midway through the first.

Syracuse capitalized on the Bison’s mishaps and extended its lead back to 12, and from there, never looked back.

Still, both Autry and his players know the Orange’s sloppiness won’t be sustainable in ACC play. Better teams will cash in off turnovers, putting SU in a deficit it won’t be able to overcome.

“From now on, it’s going to be very good teams. And when they get up big, it’s gonna be a hard hole to come out of. So I think we got to throw the first punch and just keep throwing punches after that,” Carlos said.

Published on December 28, 2024 at 7:09 pm

Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu | @ Noahnuss99