#3 Tennessee pulls away, throttles Syracuse men’s basketball 96-70

Syracuse men’s basketball hung tough with third-ranked Tennessee in the first half Tuesday. Ultimately, though, the Volunteers (8-0, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) blitzed the Orange (4-3, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) with a 20-7 run out of the break and won 96-70. The loss marks the third in the last four games for SU, each against power conference opponents.

“That wasn’t Syracuse basketball,” head coach Adrian Autry said after the game. “It’s disappointing. Our guys are disappointed.”

Tuesday’s contest, part of the first day of the ACC-SEC challenge that saw just one ACC team emerge with a win, started off tightly-contested enough. Early three-pointers from SU forward Chris Bell and guard Elijah Moore had the Orange trailing by just two points near the midpoint of the first half. By halftime, though, Tennessee had a 10-point lead, thanks in large part to a dominant 24-10 scoring advantage in the paint and a 21-12 advantage on the glass.

Out of the halftime break, the Volunteers launched a 20-7 run, sparked by four deep balls from guards Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey. Just six minutes after the break, UTK’s lead had ballooned to 19 points. Ultimately, the 96 points allowed by Syracuse marked its most in a game this season, and the most since it allowed 99 against Wake Forest last February.

“[The defense] just fell apart,” Autry said. “We didn’t get back. We didn’t locate guys. There was nothing to be proud of.”

Of note, Syracuse was without leading scorer JJ Starling — who averages nearly 20 points per game — after the junior suffered an injury to his non-shooting hand in practice on Monday. In his place, Hofstra transfer Jaquan Carlos returned to the starting lineup. The six-foot senior scored seven points and added four assists, but was minus-25 in 37 minutes.

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“He’s our only ball-handler,” Autry said of Carlos, who played fewer than 20 minutes in SU’s previous game against Cornell. “He’s the only guy that could handle the pressure of Tennessee.”

Syracuse’s struggles from the free throw line also returned in Knoxville. After the Orange went 9-for-18 at the stripe against Texas two weeks ago, the Orange bounced back with 42 makes on 48 tries in games against Texas Tech and Cornell. Tuesday, though, SU made just 12 of 21 attempts, bringing its season free throw rate down to just below 70%, the third-worst mark in the ACC.

SU opens ACC play in its next game, when it visits Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish are losers of five consecutive games after a 21-point drubbing at the hands of Georgia on Tuesday.