Syracuse Displays 'Worst Offense All Year' in Loss to Florida State

The Orange shot 1-14 from three-point range and 22-33 from the foul line

Syracuse (13-6/4-4) dropped their first home game of the campaign Tuesday night against Florida State (12-7/6-2) as shooting woes proved to be the difference in the second half. The Orange led 36-35 in a back-and-forth first half that saw six lead changes and six ties, but the Noles pulled away down the stretch.

Maliq Brown tipped in a missed layup by Judah Mintz with 8:46 remaining in regulation to make it a 59-58 deficit. Following that bucket, FSU went on a 26-11 run to end the game where Cuse only made three field goals. Coach Red Autry felt that as SU started to go cold offensively, that ineffectiveness bled into other aspects of their play.

“We just didn't do a good job offensively…We picked the worst time to make to not make anything. Couldn't make free throws or three-point shots, but the biggest thing is we kind of stopped defending it, and they took advantage of it,” Autry said.

Florida State shot 51 percent (18-31) in the second half, getting easy looks in the paint and converting on their chances from distance (3-6 from three and 11-12 from the line). Coach Leonard Hamilton’s Seminoles incorporate a deep 11-man rotation that poised matchup problems late when Cuse appeared to run out of gas.

“ [FSU] came in and just took us out of anything that we tried to do. They all are strong and physical. They get after you. They will make you put the ball on the floor, and they will make you work. They wore us down and outplayed us once they got the lead,” Autry said.

Junior Jamir Watkins shined for FSU, scoring a career-high 27 points in his double-double performance. The VCU transfer went 8-15 from the floor, 2-3 from long range, and 9-12 at the charity stripe for the Noles. Former Georgetown guard Primo Spears added 13 off the bench hitting big shots during FSU’s late run, including setting up his teammates with a game-high six assists.

“There’s definitely a lot we need to improve upon defensively. Florida State kinda got whatever they wanted by getting out in transition and having good ball movement. They got energy off of the easy buckets, and we just weren’t able to match it,” Starling said.

For a team that made at least double-digit three-pointers in their last two games, Syracuse went just 1-14 in their three-point attempts, becoming increasingly frustrated that their shots weren’t falling. The offense became stagnant, relying on Judah Mintz to play isolation ball by driving to the hoop to draw a foul. Mintz ended up with a game-high 28 points, doing the majority of his damage at the line going 10-15. Starling was the only other player in double figures with 10 points as Cuse depended on the backcourt when teammates weren’t hitting shots from the outside. That inefficient shooting for SU resulted in a season-low seven assists for the team.

It can be incredibly frustrating when shots that you normally connect on don’t swish through the net. For a player like Starling, who shot an incredible 62.5 percent (15-24) in his two previous games, wasn’t as effective in his 14 attempts against the Noles at a 28.6 clip. Instead of letting an off night define him, Starling has spent time working on his mental game when he had a difficult scoring stretch earlier this season.

“For me, I’m getting better with it, and it’s not as hard for me anymore. Obviously, today was a tough loss, but we still have a bunch of games left and if I let this one affect me big time then it would just carry over to our next game. Just gotta flush this one out and get back in the gym,” Starling said.

Having that confidence in your abilities and a short-term memory was exactly what Coach Autry stressed to his players after the loss. It’s inevitable in a 31 game regular season that Syracuse won’t play to their full potential. The important part is ensuring that it won’t boil over into Saturday night.

“This is how the ACC is we just have to move forward. Yeah, it’s nice when you win a game like how we did on Saturday, and you celebrate in the moment, but then you have to get ready for the next. We have a little off day tomorrow, but you know all of us will be getting shots up together so we can get better,” Kyle Cuffe Jr. said.

Syracuse wraps up a three-game home stand Saturday night against NC State (13-6/5-3). The Wolfpack lost at Virginia on Wednesday before making the trip north to Central New York. Tip-off on Saturday is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ACC Network.

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