It was a rough night for the Orange (14-5, 5-1 Atlantic Coast) in Blacksburg, Virginia with a 78-56 loss against No. 10 Virginia Tech (15-3, 4-2).
After a 21-point loss against No. 11 North Carolina, Virginia Tech was looking for some redemption on their home court — and that’s exactly what they got.
Virginia Tech is the third best three-point shooting team in the country. And that was a big part of the game. With its formidable offense, it became clear early in the game that Syracuse needed to step up its defense to stay in the game.
The Hokies made 46.7% of threes as opposed to Syracuse’s 32.1%. Even from the field, there was no competition, with the Orange making only 36.4% of shots and a total of 7 assists while Virginia Tech made 52.1% of its shots and tallied 23 assists.
Virginia Tech senior guard Justin Robinson made his first shot from the three and from then on Syracuse was left in the dust. He was truly the player to watch finishing with a total of 35 points. It was a career high for Robinson, who also led with 8 assists
For the Orange, sophomore forward Oshae Brisset led with 16 points and seven rebounds. However, Brisset wasn’t able to play through until the end of the game; he was disqualified after his fifth foul with six minutes left in the game.
By the end of the first half, the Orange was down 19 points. Syracuse began slowly closing the gap at the beginning of the second half. Between Brisset, Tyus Battle and Paschal Chukwu, the Orange managed to navigate its way through Virginia Tech’s solid defense. Syracuse managed to reduce to deficit to just eight points, but the Hokies again pulled away.
Syracuse’s winning streak comes to an ugly end but has a few days to recuperate before playing Boston College Wednesday, January 30.