No. 7 seed Syracuse struggles in second half, falls to No. 10 seed NC State in ACC Tournament opener Wednesday

The second half was the difference in No. 7 seeded Syracuse men’s basketball’s (20-12, 11-10 Atlantic Coast Conference) 83-65 loss to No. 10 seeded NC State (19-14, 10-11 ACC). SU went into the break trailing by just three points. In the second half, the Wolfpack outscored the Orange 48-33.

Syracuse arrived in the nation's capital with hopes of picking up a couple of resume-boosting wins. The Orange did their job well early in their first battle in DC. SU led a majority of the first half before giving up the lead late. Still, the ‘Cuse went into the locker room with a three-point deficit. From there, the contrasting halves went into full effect.

Following the intermission, Syracuse had 20 minutes to take the lead and finish the job against NC State. The Orange and Pack went back and forth out of the half but at the 17-minute mark, the wolves from Raleigh hit another gear. NC State went on a 19-2 run to give itself a 17-point advantage. From there, Syracuse never trailed by less than 10 and the Wolfpack ran off with the victory.

A key disparity in the contest was in the glass department. NC State out-rebounded SU 17-8 on the offensive boards. Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry detailed the struggles after a missed Wolfpack attempt.

“When we did get stops we just couldn’t get the ball and rebound,” said Autry. “I thought that was the major difference in tonight‘s game.”

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The poor results on the glass has been a common theme this season for the Orange. Syracuse has lost the battle on the boards to its opponents in 10 of its last 11 games.

Another glaring issue for the Orange has been on the defensive end, but Syracuse held NC State to just 40 percent from the field in the game. However, it was on the next try that killed SU. The Wolfpack tallied 20 second chance points.

“Too many second chance points and too many transition points,” said Autry. We just had too many obstacles to overcome against a team like NC State.”

Syracuse trailed by as many as 24 in the second half. The Orange trimmed the lead to 10 halfway through the second half, but self-inflicted mistakes for the ‘Cuse dimmed its chances at ever sustaining a comeback. SU totaled a season-high 19 turnovers. They didn’t all come in the same form but rather a multitude of mistakes.

“We bobbled some,” said a disappointed Autry. “Some went out of bounds, we just threw the ball away too many times.”

Syracuse closes out conference play with a dejecting 0-1 performance in the ACC Tournament. Next up for Syracuse is up in the air. The Orange await the NCAA Tournament’s selection committee’s decision on Sunday to see if they did enough to receive at an at-large bid. SU is unlikely to be selected, but could receive an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament. Follow @WAERSports on X for updates on the next chapter for the ‘Cuse.