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Syracuse unable to overcome foul trouble, three-point barrage from Wake Forest, drops third-straight

Jimmy Boeheim finished with a team-high 21 points in the loss to Wake Forest.
Cuse.com
Jimmy Boeheim finished with a team-high 21 points in the loss to Wake Forest.

Syracuse men's basketball just can’t seem to get out of its own way, this time falling 77-74 to Wake Forest in overtime. WAER's Braden Reed breaks down what went wrong for the Orange down in Winston-Salem.

You can blame the loss on the officiating, the historic number of three-pointers attempted by Wake Forest, or Jesse Edwards fouling out in just 20 minutes on the floor, but the fact of the matter is that Syracuse men’s basketball had a chance to win a road ACC game on Saturday and just wasn’t able to get it done.

The Orange (7-8, 1-3 ACC) fell to the Demon Deacons (13-3, 3-2 ACC) 77-74 inside LJVM Coliseum, marking the third straight conference loss for SU as the team continues its slide down the ACC standings.

Jesse Edwards totaled just six points before fouling out with nine minutes to go in the second half.
Cuse.com
Jesse Edwards totaled just six points before fouling out with nine minutes to go in the second half.

Now back to the blame game. There’s no denying that the fouls tipped in favor of Wake Forest, who was only called for 11 fouls compared to Syracuse’s 21, many of which drew a negative reaction from head coach Jim Boeheim. Foul trouble early on hurt the Orange, as Jesse Edwards, Cole Swider, and Buddy Boeheim all picked up multiple fouls in the first half and had to spend time watching from the bench.

Edwards was the only one of those three to eventually foul out, picking up his fifth with just under ten minutes to play in the second half. It marked the eighth time this season and the fourth straight game that the center has fouled out.

Coach Boeheim stressed the importance of Edwards staying on the floor down the stretch, saying “One of them I don’t think he did foul, but a couple of them he just can’t reach in and be involved in that play. We need him in the game.”

Edwards himself echoed that message, adding that his fouls were game-changing for the team and that he picked up too many fouls too quick. “It’s something that I can’t be doing anymore, it obviously hurt us and it’s something that I’ll have to keep working on,” Edwards said.

Another thing that was game-changing for Syracuse was Wake Forest’s high volume three-point shooting. The Demon Deacons attempted 37 three-pointers, the most the program has attempted in a single game since 2002. They only made 29% of them, but the commitment to the outside shot in order to beat the Syracuse zone lead to Wake’s eventual victory.

Demon Deacon forward Isaiah Mucius paced the team in three-point attempts, going 4/14 from deep, the majority of which came in the first half. The senior scored 16 of his 18 total points in the first 20 minutes but went 0/4 from range in the second.

It’s the exact midpoint of the season for Syracuse. 15 games played, 15 games to go. Gut check time, if you will. Jim Boeheim said after the game that “We're doing enough to win these games, but we just can't get there," which is all fine and good, but time’s running out for the wins to start rolling in. The Orange are .500 or worse this late in the season for the first time in Boeheim’s 46 years at the helm. This year’s group needs to click soon, or it’ll be curtains on the season before we know it.

Syracuse’s next opportunity to get things trending in the right direction comes against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The Orange and Panthers are set to square off at 7 p.m., coverage on WAER starts at 6:30 with GZA Countdown to Tipoff.