The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team (3-1) suffered its first defeat of the 2024-25 season, falling to the Texas Longhorns 70-66 in the Legends Classic. The Orange trailed by as many as 16, but fought back to take the lead late in the second half. Ultimately Syracuse ended up falling short from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with Carmelo and Kiyan Anthony sitting courtside.

JJ Starling led the way with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists while Eddie Lampkin had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Jyare Davis finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds while Chris Bell scored 11 points.

Texas jumped out to a 9-0 lead and Adrian Autry departed from his man-to-man defense and elected to go to a 2-3 zone for the first time this season. Also representing a first, Naheem McLeod made his season debut, checking in first off the bench along with Jyare Davis as Syracuse went zone.

Texas broke the game open in the first half and went into the break leading 41-30. The Orange was able to fight back in the second half behind the play of Starling and Lampkin, but ultimately struggled to get the defensive stops necessary (and avoiding fouls) to get over the hump.

To the takeaways.

A tale of two halves defensively

Syracuse continues to struggle guarding teams. That was evident from the opening tip as Texas punched first by opening a 9-0 advantage. Autry elected to go 2-3 zone with McLeod as the center in the first half. The initial move to zone worked, but any immediate success with the defense quickly waned as Texas dissected the 2-3 zone for easy looks. The Longhorns shot 17-28 from the floor in the first half.

The Orange has been able to rebound well after forcing misses. The problem is Syracuse isn’t doing enough to discourage teams or forcing them into tough shots.

The second half was a different story as Syracuse locked in defensively, communicating effectively on screens and forcing Texas into tougher, contested shots. The Longhorns shot just 10-30 in the second half. Still, Texas was able to close this game out with tough shots from Johnson and clutch free throw shooting from the freshman.

No laying down

Syracuse looked dead in the water for much of the first half. Texas held a 41-25 lead with 18:25 left in the game and looked ready to put this game away.

But Syracuse fought back, going on a 14-2 run behind the play of Starling, Lampkin and a timely corner three from Bell to get right back in it. The Orange tied the game at 56 all on a Starling bucket with 6:13 to go. It came all the way back to take the lead 59-58 with 4:07 left in the game.

Down the stretch, Syracuse couldn’t quite get the stops and scores necessary to get past Texas. The Orange won’t be happy with a moral victory, but showing this kind of fight by hanging with a team just outside the AP Top 25 is surely a good sign for a team that struggled to put Le Moyne, Colgate and Younstown State away.

#FreeThrowsMatter

Don’t look now but Brent Axe is banging that drumbeat. While it’s easy to pinpoint any disparity from the box score, no advantage was more glaring than the free throw line. Syracuse left some points off the board from the charity stripe, shooting 9-18 from the line, including some key misses late in the game.

Meantime, Texas was an efficient 10-12 from the free throw line for the game. Texas’ Johnson knocked down six straight free throws in crunch time that ultimately kept Syracuse at bay.

Free throws. They matter, folks.