Syracuse looks to cling to its ACC tournament spot in pivotal meeting with NC State

Syracuse men’s basketball (11-16, 5-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) finds itself playing for the survival of its ACC tournament hopes when it meets NC State (11-16, 4-12 ACC) at the JMA Wireless Dome on Wednesday night. The Orange sit at 15th in the conference and are desperately holding on to the final bid to the postseason tournament. A loss to the Wolfpack would see SU jumped by NC State and in position to miss the ACC tournament for the first time since 2015—when the program missed the postseason entirely due to a self-imposed ban.

In year two, SU Head Coach Adrian Autry has a chance to make the wrong kind of history: Autry could become the first lead man in program history to fail to qualify for a conference tournament.

Why do the Orange find themselves in such an unprecedented position? Poor defensive play is largely to blame. SU has allowed a minimum of 80 points in each of its last five games; that hadn’t happened since the 1981-1982 season. “Defense is so important,” Autry said after the loss to Pitt. “When you get those good looks and you’re not making them, you’ve got to be able to have your defense there to hold teams down until we can get our offense going, and obviously we didn’t do that.”

Issues on the defensive end have been enough to wipe away several strong offensive performances throughout the year. In its most recent loss to Pitt, Syracuse hit a season-high 14 three-pointers but lost by double digits. In fact, SU is 0-4 when it connects 10 or more times from beyond the arc.

Orange Forward Chris Bell hit a season-high seven shots from long range in the loss to the Panthers. It didn’t matter. “I feel like we didn’t pick it up on the defensive end,” said Bell. “I feel like that’s why we lost the game. Our defensive effort in the second half wasn’t there.”

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Failing to sustain high effort for a full 40 minutes of play has plagued SU all year. Whether it be at the beginning of games (Syracuse trailed Stanford 25-2 midway through the first half of their matchup on January 29) or the end (SU was outscored by 18 in the second half of its most recent loss to Pitt), the Orange struggle to put together a complete performance from tip-off to the final buzzer. Adrian Autry said of the loss to Pittsburgh, “I thought the guys…battled for about 27, 28 minutes but it’s a 40-minute game.”

As for the Wolfpack, it too finds it difficult to play a complete game: NC State led then-No. 2 Duke by as much as 13 late in the first half before the Blue Devils went on a 23-2 run to win by double digits.

Syracuse is unlikely to enjoy success from three-point range like it did against Pittsburgh: NC State has allowed only 169 triples all year, tied for fewest in the ACC. The Wolfpack’s recently surging long-range attack is more poised for a big night. The Orange have allowed 229 makes from deep, behind only Georgia Tech and Miami for most in the conference.

Momentum also favors NC State in this one. Syracuse has lost three straight while its opponent enters the contest having won two of its last three.

Both teams enter Wednesday night’s matchup with ACC tournament aspirations in their mind. Syracuse hopes to prevent its bid from slipping through its fingers while the reigning conference champion in NC State hopes to earn the chance to repeat last year’s magical run.

The Orange and Wolfpack meet in the Salt City at 7:00. WAER’s coverage of the game begins with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff at 6:30 on 88.3 FM or waer.org.