Syracuse crushed by No. 15 Iowa State 95-64, goes winless in Players Era
Despite trailing by one at halftime, Syracuse was boat raced in the second half by Iowa State en route to a 31-point loss, ending its time in Las Vegas with three losses. Courtesy of Joseph Alleyne | @joeyyarchive on Instagram
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LAS VEGAS — Syracuse lucked out because the Players Era Festival made a last-minute scheduling change. It was supposed to play a Thursday-morning bottomfeeder consolation game after San Diego State crushed Oregon late Tuesday night. Then the tournament inexplicably announced SU would instead face No. 15 Iowa State Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time, wiping away the originally-scheduled format.
It gave the Orange one final opportunity to leave Sin City with a Quad 1 win. But, much like their first two tries, they showed they’re not quite there yet.
Syracuse (4-3, Atlantic Coast) dropped its third consecutive game of the Players Era Festival in a 95-64 loss to No. 15 Iowa State (7-0, Big 12). Turnovers and missed shots were the story for the Orange, who coughed the ball up a season-worst 19 times and finished with a 39% clip from the field compared to ISU’s 59%.
A 17-2 run from the Cyclones to begin the second half eliminated any chance SU had at earning an upset victory. The Orange were outscored 60-30 across the final 20 minutes.
Freshman forward Sadiq White led Syracuse with 14 points, but the Orange struggled to find consistency without sophomore forward Donnie Freeman, who missed his third straight contest. They didn’t have a top-dog scorer, and it cost them again, despite the fact Iowa State was also missing its best scorer in point guard Tamin Lipsey.
Under third-year head coach Adrian Autry, the Orange are now 3-20 in Quad 1 contests and 0-3 to start 2025-26. Tuesday’s loss was also the second-biggest blowout defeat Syracuse has suffered under Autry at 31 points.
SU started off 1-for-7 from the floor and 1-for-5 from 3 against Iowa State, continuing its immense shooting struggles from Tuesday’s loss to Kansas, when it shot 32% as a team. The Cyclones shot poorly to begin as well, and also turned the ball over like wildfire, which the Orange took advantage of.
Some of the “level five energy” Autry covets showed itself through the first under-12 timeout as Syracuse held a 14-13 lead. The Orange totaled six points off Cyclones turnovers in the opening stretch and displayed clinical execution on offense, highlighted by a coast-to-coast lay-in through contact by J.J. Starling and a Luke Fennell 3-pointer after SU rapidly moved the ball around the perimeter.
After the under-12 break, the freshmen got involved as Kiyan Anthony fed a transition lob to White, who viciously threw down the alley-oop slam to give Syracuse a 16-14 lead.
But the Orange couldn’t stop Iowa State in the paint — a sign they dearly missed Freeman for the third consecutive game, which he missed with a lower-body injury. The Cyclones racked up 16 of their first 20 points from the paint — they finished with 52 paint points to SU’s 28 — aided by an early nine-point spurt from crafty guard Killyan Toure.
That’s when Syracuse grew careless. It turned the ball over nine times by the 6:30 mark of the first half and allowed Iowa State to embark on a 12-0 run over a near-two-minute stretch. SU answered with a 10-0 run of its own to knot the contest at 28-28, though its mistakes persisted.
The second half saw the Cyclones establish a comfortable lead via their 17-2 run across a 2:51 span. They killed the Orange from beyond the arc while SU became stagnant, as it got stuck playing in a methodical half-court offense without much schematic creativity.
Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson threw down a fast break dunk with around 16 minutes remaining in the contest, which put Syracuse behind 55-39. The Cyclones’ size, pace and tenacity proved too much for a reeling Orange squad to handle.
Now, Syracuse is forced to rest its hopes on defeating No. 17 Tennessee next Tuesday. It’s probably a must-win Quad 1 game for the Orange if they want to return to March Madness.
