Defensive domination helps Syracuse men’s basketball snap its three-game losing streak

Syracuse Men’s Basketball (12-16, 6-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) had one of its best defensive showings in a 74-60 victory over NC State (11-17, 4-13 ACC) last night. The Orange allowed the Wolfpack to score just 25 points in the first half. It was the third-fewest points SU has allowed in a half all season.

Going into tonight, SU held the 15th and final spot in the conference’s postseason. Another team battling though, was the Wolfpack who had just one less ACC victory than the Orange. Whatever head coach Adrian Autry implemented on defense, worked to perfection for the ‘Cuse. Syracuse limited NC State to shoot just 34% from the field and the Wolfpack connected on just eight of its 27 attempts from downtown.

It all started early with SU going ahead 13-3 over NC State. The contest had similar glimpses to Syracuse’s last contest against Pittsburgh. If you remember that Orange loss, the squad was ahead 22-6 just over nine minutes into the contest, but ended up falling 80-69. But in tonight’s game, the Orange scorers stepped up.

Syracuse center Eddie Lampkin Jr. had one of his most successful games of the season. The senior racked up his 14th double-double of the season. That’s tied for the third most double-doubles in single-season program history. The center finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds against the Wolfpack. After the game, Lampkin mentioned he knew that intensity was the key.

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“I was just trying to be physical,” Lampkin said about facing NC State. “I was trying to be aggressive and score the ball.”

A few Syracuse buckets put the nail in the coffin against NC State. One of those from a layup from the center that put SU ahead 59-49 with just over eight minutes left in the contest. Another one of those players was the Cuse’s leading scorer JJ Starling. The junior scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half.

The Orange ended up with three double-digit scorers. Along with JJ Starling and Eddie Lampkin, Jyare Davis totaled 15 points in the win. The forward grabbed seven rebounds as well.

“We are still playing for us,” Coach Autry said about this game despite a rough season. “These guys are competitors and we got a lot to play for.”

After this victory, SU could be on its way to the ACC tournament. With three contests left, the Orange now sit in 13th place in the conference standings. Autry is looking ahead to the tournament as a new opportunity to turn things around.

“We feel like we still can play some basketball, we feel confident…If we finish with the ACC tournament we’ll go from there.”

Syracuse returns to action on Saturday when it takes on Virginia Tech at 12 p.m. Listen to the contest on WAER. Coverage begins with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to tipoff at 11:30 a.m.