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For the first time since the middle of November, Syracuse entered a game on a winning streak. SU defeated Georgia Tech and Boston College in quick succession for its first two Atlantic Coast Conference wins of the season. The wins came at the right time after SU dropped its first three ACC games. The Orange’s winning streak came as a result of elite guard play from J.J. Starling. The junior scored 21 points against GT and 26 against BC, spearheading SU to victory.

After missing seven games with a broken hand, Starling has brought stability to the Orange. Despite Syracuse shooting 9-of-35 from 3-point range the past two games, it’s gotten by under Starling’s guidance. Tuesday was a much bigger test, facing Louisville, which entered the contest winners of six straight and the hottest ACC team not named Duke.

The Cardinals continued their hot streak Tuesday, blowing past Syracuse. Chucky Hepburn destroyed the SU with his meticulous offense while nobody could get going for the Orange, who suffered their tied-for-third-worst defeat of the season.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (8-9, 2-4, ACC) 85-61 loss to Louisville (13-5, 6-1, ACC):

3-pointers galore

Louisville likes to shoot 3s. A lot of them. Prior to Tuesday, the Cardinals led the ACC in 3-pointers attempted with 524. That also ranks in the top 10 in the country. Despite the sheer volume, the Cardinals only convert on 30.3% of their looks. The only team with a worse shooting percentage from deep was Syracuse at 29.2%.

Despite Louisville’s habit of firing away from 3, the Cardinals weren’t that aggressive early on. Hepburn drained their first attempt, but they proceeded to miss six straight attempts. After that drought, Louisville caught fire from distance. Reyne Smith broke a 10-minute drought, connecting from deep while being fouled by Jaquan Carlos. Smith’s 3 started a stretch where the Cardinals were 7-for-10 from beyond the arc. It helped stretch a four-point lead to 16 at halftime.

Meanwhile, Syracuse fired away from deep and had mild success. Jyáre Davis, a 16.7% shooter from the outside, canned SU’s first attempt. Later in the half, Davis drilled another triple, giving him his first game with multiple 3s all season. Davis’ effort helped the Orange start 5-of-10 from 3-point range, but they missed their final five 3s of the half, which prevented them from keeping up with Louisville’s barrage.

The Cardinals finished 12-of-28 from beyond the arc, tying the most 3s Syracuse has allowed in a game all season long. On the other hand, the Orange connected on eight of their 25 shots from deep.

Oh Starling, where are you?

As mentioned earlier, Syracuse has gone as far as Starling will take it this season. Starling leads SU with 19.8 points per game, and he’s constantly dragged it out of tough situations. His 38-point performance in a double overtime win over Youngstown State comes to mind. But on Tuesday, Starling had a rough go of it.

The point guard was rendered ineffective in the first half and was held scoreless for the first time all season. Louisville’s guards took turns while guarding Starling. It was mostly a combination of J’Vonne Hadley and Hepburn. Hadley’s length gave Starling trouble getting his shot off, while Hepburn’s lateral speed kept him from getting to the basket.

It led to a passive Starling, who put up just four shots in the first half. Starling has been anything but passive the past three games. He’s averaged 18 shots per game since coming back and put up 22 against BC.

Starling finally got on the board with a baseline floater on SU’s first possession of the second half but remained pretty much as quiet as he was in the first. Louisville’s defense completely took Starling out of the game, and Syracuse suffered as a result. He finished with a season-low four points, had a season-low seven shots and turned the ball over a season-high six times.

A Hepburn explosion

While Starling was held in check, Hepburn went nuclear in the final eight minutes of the first half. Louisville’s leading scorer (15.1 points per game) started off slow, with just three points across the first 13 minutes. Coming out of the under-8 timeout, nobody could stop Hepburn. At one point, he drilled three straight 3-pointers, silencing the JMA Wireless Dome with his stealthy offense.

Syracuse kept going under Hepburn in pick-and-roll situations, which could seem logical considering he’s only a 30.3% 3-point shooter and a very potent driver. Though the Wisconsin transfer made Syracuse pay. His quick release made his shots look effortless while SU seemed puzzled at what to do to stop him.

Hepburn scored or assisted on Louisville’s final 15 points of the half, and the Orange had no answer. Across the final 7:37 of the first half, Hepburn outscored Syracuse 12-10 by himself. Hepburn took more of a backseat in the second half. He didn’t force the issue much on offense, only attempting five shots, but the damage was already done. Hepburn finished with a game-high 24 points on 6-of-10 shooting from 3.

2nd-half lineup switch

Syracuse found itself trailing 43-27 at halftime against Louisville. It was the Orange’s second-largest halftime deficit this season, only coming behind their 26-point hole against Maryland. Looking for answers to start the second half, head coach Adrian Autry slightly altered his lineup.

Autry decided to start Carlos instead of Elijah Moore, neither of whom has played their best basketball as of late. Not only has Moore not hit a 3-pointer or scored a single point since Dec. 21 against Maryland, he’s seen a significant dip in his minutes — averaging just nine per game.

Meanwhile, Carlos started Syracuse’s first 14 games but was taken out of the lineup in the past two games in place of Lucas Taylor. Despite this, Autry put Carlos on the floor when SU came out of the locker room. The point guard came out aggressive, hitting a rare 3-pointer and scoring on a couple of drives.

Though, the second-half wrinkle was useless with Louisville outclassing Syracuse. The Cardinals’ pace of play gave the Orange problems, leading to an inability to score consistently on an air-tight Louisville defense.

Published on January 14, 2025 at 9:18 pm

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