As the clock ticked under 13 minutes to go in the first half, the scoreboard looked like a mistake. Stanford - 17, Syracuse - 0. The Cardinal started the game by holding the ‘Cuse scoreless for over 7 minutes. That marks the 6th consecutive game SU has had a period of 4 minutes or longer without notching a point. After Syracuse (9-12, 3-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) finally found the hoop, thanks to a Kyle Cuffe layup, Stanford (15-6, 7-3 ACC) would increase its lead to as much as 23 and never look back.
A first half surge from @StanfordMBB was simply too much for @Cuse_MBB to overcome in its 70-61 loss.
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) January 30, 2025
WAER's @swilkes04 and @TylerJAitken had the call. pic.twitter.com/MspYCWqJ67
“[I] thought the game was kind of decided in the first 13 minutes until we started fighting,” Head Coach Adrian Autry said. “We dug ourselves a hole and we just can’t do that against a team like Stanford at home”
Stanford has led at halftime in 11 of its 13 games at home this season, resulting in a 12-1 record. A large part of that is Center Maxime Reynaud. The Senior tallied 8 of the Cardinal’s first 17 points and had a double-double in the first half. That marked his nation's best 17th double-double of the season.
The battle of the block S began with @StanfordMBB cruising out to an early cushion.@swilkes04 had the call for the Cardinal's opening score.
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) January 30, 2025
📻@waer883, https://t.co/BG0Q3sGq3P pic.twitter.com/Owk3itqBcQ
“He’s a great player and obviously he is a pro,” said SU center Eddie Lampkin.
“You don’t see guys his size in college, you see them at the next level,” Autry said
While Raynaud leads the ACC in scoring, the Orange (who have the second worst scoring defense in the conference) kept the Frenchmen to just his average 21 points.
“When you get down like that you have to just say hey one stop at a time,” Autry said. “I thought we did that. And when JC [Jaquan Carlos] and Kyle [Cuffe] and those guys came in, it really gave us a boost.”
Of @Cuse_MBB's first six points, guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. has four.@swilkes04 described the junior's attack to the rim.
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) January 30, 2025
📻@waer883, https://t.co/BG0Q3sGq3P pic.twitter.com/HovFryrEun
That defensive effort propelled SU to a 22-8 run to end the first half and make it just a 9 point game heading to the locker room.
The Orange couldn’t carry that momentum into the second half though as Syracuse and Stanford went to a stalemate 37-37 in the final stanza. SU would get as close as 7 with 90 seconds to go in the game.
“We had some critical turnovers, some critical rebounding opportunities that we had a chance [at getting],” said Autry. “A couple of shots that we took, we talked about not taking.”
The Orange are set at 147 in the net rankings, which is 4th worst ACC. The loss to Stanford makes SU 0-11 against quad 1 AND quad 2 teams. If SU continues this path a matchup with Syracuse’s matchup with California may be harder than thought. The Golden Bears are currently a fringe Quad 2 squad but are potentially without the ACC’s 3rd highest scorer Andre Stojackovic with a day-to-day injury. Gametime is at 10pm eastern time but tune in at 9:30 for McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff.