.@Cuse_MBB competed until the final buzzer against @WakeMBB, but in the end dropped its second game of ACC play. @swilkes04 and @SokolskyJish had the call for the seventh SU loss of the season. pic.twitter.com/tMpKFM7fs9
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) December 31, 2024
On New Year’s Eve, Syracuse men’s basketball (6-7, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) ended 2024 with an 81-71 loss to Wake Forest (10-4, 2-1 ACC) inside the JMA Wireless Dome. SU has lost three of its last four games heading into 2025.
The Orange struggled offensively early. Syracuse found itself down 19-3 five and a half minutes into the game. During that stretch, SU missed four of its first five field goals, went scoreless for over three minutes, and turned the ball over four times. Syracuse didn’t lead at all in the first half.
“We have to figure this out. We can’t keep digging ourselves in holes,” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said in the postgame press conference when asked about the slow start and a potential lineup change for Saturday’s game. “The frustrating part is that in the last couple of games we’ve played, we’ve had chances to win.”
While the Demon Deacons held a 16-point advantage early into the contest, the Orange started to show signs of life as the first half went on. Led by guard Kyle Cuffe Jr., SU’s reserves sparked a Syracuse comeback. The redshirt junior was responsible for 13 of the Orange’s 25 bench points in the opening 20 minutes. That completely outclassed Wake Forest’s second unit, who didn’t score a single point in the first frame. When the first half came to a close, SU trimmed a 16-point deficit all the way down to two, trailing 36-34.
“Every time they’ve come in, they’ve given us something,” Autry said postgame when asked about his squad’s bench production against Wake Forest. “They gave us energy, they defended, and they got after it. I thought they gave us the best chance to win.”
Bench points at the half:
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) December 31, 2024
🍊 25
🎩 0 pic.twitter.com/x8KxLi3xi1
However, the Demon Deacons began to capitalize on the Orange’s defensive lapses in the second half. Despite being the worst three-point shooting team in the ACC at 26.5% and one of the worst in the country, Wake Forest started to connect on its triples. The Demon Deacons buried five three-pointers in the first part of the second half, four of them from guard Hunter Sallis and forward Juke Harris. As a team, Wake Forest shot 6-12 from beyond the arc in the second frame. Ultimately, that was enough to put Syracuse away. SU was within arms reach, trailing by single digits through the majority of the second half, but couldn’t make the final push and take the lead down the stretch.
“You just can’t let that happen. We went up and they hit two threes, four all together,” Autry said in the postgame press conference in reference to the open looks the Demon Deacons had from three in the second half. “That got them back into the game and got them going.”
Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for Syracuse. Against his former team, SU guard Lucas Taylor racked up a team high 16 points, which also marked a season high for the senior. The North Carolina native buried three triples, his second game in a row with at least three made and his third straight with multiple three-pointers. The 14 points Cuffe ended with was a career high. Both led the Orange to 40 total bench points, while the Demon Deacons put up 13.

With the loss, Syracuse enters the new year with a losing record for the first time in 56 years. It is also the first time in nine years that Syracuse has started 0-2 in ACC play. In the 2015-2016 season, the Orange dropped their first two conference games to Pittsburgh (10-2, 1-0 ACC) and Miami (4-8, 0-2 ACC), both of which were double-digit losses.
Syracuse returns to action Saturday when it visits Florida State (9-4, 0-2 ACC) for SU’s first contest in 2025. That game gets underway at 6 p.m. WAER’s coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff.