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2024 was a troubling calendar year for Syracuse men’s basketball. After a middling regular season in the 2023-24 campaign, the Orange were bounced from the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament by 18 points. With a revamped group in the 2024-25 season, SU began 6-7.

The slow start to the campaign saw Syracuse enter the new year winless against Power Five opponents. Within their struggles, the Orange are averaging 12.5 turnovers per game, including a combined 60 over their last three games. The absence of leading scorer J.J. Starling has stalled any consistent offense as SU was 2-5 when he was absent with a broken left hand.

To start the new year and attempt to capture its first ACC victory of the season, Syracuse faced Florida State. Like the Orange, the Seminoles entered winless in conference play, landing near the bottom of the ACC standings.

Starling, for the first time since the injury, returned to the lineup. The Orange trailed by two at halftime but were outscored 54-40 in the second half, leading to a third-straight ACC loss to begin conference play.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (6-8, 0-3 ACC) 90-74 loss to Florida State (10-4, 1-2 ACC) Saturday night in Tallahassee:

J.J.’s return

This was supposed to be Starling’s team. With leading scorer Judah Mintz taking off for the professional ranks, Starling’s 13.3 points per game were set to increase. Through Syracuse’s first six games, the Orange had their fair share of struggles, but Starling was a consistent asset at 19.8 points per game in 36.6 minutes per game.

When he injured his left hand in practice just before a crucial contest against then-No. 3 Tennessee, SU’s season began to spiral out of control. Starling returned to the starting lineup Saturday for the first time since Nov. 27, though he showcased an up-and-down performance.

Minutes into the contest, Starling collected the ball along the right perimeter, stepped into a 3 and buried it to cut SU’s early deficit to 6-5. On the next possession, he found his groove in the mid-range, knocking down the shot without hesitation. SU’s leading scorer was undoubtedly back offensively early. However, on defense, a miscommunication allowed an easy blow by Starling and Freeman for a dunk by Malique Ewin. Starling then substituted following the first media timeout for Elijah Moore.

Starling returned soon after, reentering just 90 seconds after substituting out. He drove baseline with 12:45 to go as the buzzer neared and knocked down a floater to cut the deficit to 18-14. As he continued to be leaned on throughout the first half, Starling grew inconsistent. He went just 1-for-5 from 3 and 3-for-10 from the field in the first half, dribbling out of bounds on the final possession.

On his first look of the second half, Starling knocked down an open 3. After the triple, Starling was held off the scoreboard until 1:35 left. He finished the day with 12 points, shooting 31% from the field.

A cracked Bell?

SU’s uninspiring offense all season has been rooted in a lack of threats on the perimeter. Its expected best shooter, Chris Bell, shot 42% from 3 last season, one of the best marks in the ACC based on his 200 attempts. His junior campaign has seen an insurmountable struggle. Bell’s last 3 before Saturday was on Dec. 3. and has seen a decrease in minutes since.

Against Wake Forest, Bell only played nine minutes. Saturday, for the first time in his college career, Bell fell out of the starting lineup.

Georgia State transfer Lucas Taylor started in his place and scored 10 points. On a wide-open right corner 3 just under four minutes into the contest, Taylor drained it to tie the game at 10-10. Bell entered the game for the first time at the 11:19 mark. He sparked the game initially with a swing pass to a wide-open Starling in the corner. A few possessions later, Starling found Bell in the corner.

He missed the shot but was fouled, making all three free throws to give the Orange a 21-19 lead. With under nine minutes to play, Bell confidently knocked down a triple — his first in over a month — to give Syracuse a 24-23 lead. As Bell hit the bench later in the opening half, Taylor got back to work.

He drove into the paint and abruptly threw up a floater that swished in. Taylor started the second half, but Bell substituted in at the 16:20 mark following a personal foul by Taylor.

With 14 minutes to play, Bell knocked down another 3 to cut Syracuse’s deficit to four. Then, he sank another left-corner triple. Bell didn’t score in SU’s game against Wake Forest four days prior. Saturday, he became a focal point in limited minutes. Bell added another 3 and a few free throws down the stretch and finished as SU’s leading scorer with 18 points.

Assessing the turnovers

With Starling out, SU’s ball handling was severely limited. Jaquan Carlos became the only player able to consistently have the ball in his hands. Opponents knew it and based their defenses around it to attack Syracuse. With these issues, the Orange also accumulated 15 total turnovers.

Syracuse averaged 15 turnovers per game with Starling out, 5.3 more than its average with Starling present. In his first game back, the Orange slightly fixed their issues.

FSU’s defense has been strong all season, forcing 15.8 turnovers per game. The mark was the tied-19th best in the country entering Saturday. On SU’s second possession, Carlos turned the ball over, leading to a 3 by FSU’s Taylor Bol Bowen. Toward the end of the half, the Orange committed turnovers from six different players throughout the first half, though Starling wasn’t one of them.

As the end of the first half neared, Starling took a baseline drive with seconds left and dribbled out of bounds, marking his first turnover of the game and Syracuse’s seventh. The number significantly decreased from SU’s last three first-half performances — 12 vs. Maryland, 10 vs. Bucknell and 13 against Wake Forest.

2nd-half collapse

Just a two-point halftime deficit for the Orange was encouraging given their recent turnover struggles and just a 3-for-13 performance from 3. The Seminoles quickly put their foot on the gas pedal to begin the second half, embarking on a 12-5 run to extend their lead to as large as nine.

SU’s Kyle Cuffe Jr. added a spark through multiple drives, and Bell converted on a few 3s, but Florida State continued to score at will. With under 11 minutes to play, Jerry Deng moved into the mid-range and stepped back along the left wing, flushing a shot to extend FSU’s lead to 63-53.

With 8:26 to play, Syracuse was forced to take a timeout, now trailing by 13. As Starling rarely scored across the final 18 minutes, Cuffe (eight) and Bell (12) combined for 20 points. Outside of the duo, the rest of the Orange scored 20.

Syracuse switched to a zone defense across the final seven minutes, but it didn’t matter much. The Seminoles closed the deal down the stretch, winning the second half 54-40 and pulling away for a 16-point victory.

Published on January 4, 2025 at 8:30 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky