Syracuse falls to No. 18 Virginia 72-59 for 6th loss in last 7 games
Syracuse fell 72-59 on the road versus No. 18 Virginia for its sixth loss in its last seven games. The defeat drops SU to 1-6 in Quad 1 games. Tara Deluca | Asst. Photo Editor
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Ugonna Onyenso rose up, slammed home an alley-oop and the John Paul Jones arena went into a frenzy. Meanwhile, all Adrian Autry could do was fold his arms as he watched any hope of a comeback crumble away.
Syracuse (13-11, 4-7 ACC) dropped its sixth contest in its last seven games by falling 72-59 to No. 18 Virginia (10-3, 9-2 ACC). The defeat drops the Orange to 1-6 in Quad 1 games this year, making it all the more likely they’ll miss the NCAA Tournament for a fifth consecutive season.
SU was decimated from beyond the 3-point line and the offensive boards, as the Cavaliers won the respective battles 10-3 and 17-6.
Even so, without holding a lead since the opening minutes, Syracuse hung around. After J.J. Starling — who finished with 13 points — split a pair of free throws, SU trailed 61-57 with five minutes to play. Two of Sam Lewis’ team-high 16 points extended Virginia’s lead to six, but with 4:47 remaining, there was still plenty of time.
In a method that’s worked for most of the season, the Orange got the ball to Donnie Freeman. But Saturday wasn’t like most of the rest of Freeman’s season. His shot missed, part of his 2-of-11 outing from the field, but UVA couldn’t capitalize, missing a 3.
However, Syracuse burned 50 seconds off the clock without a score. The Orange corralled three offensive rebounds, but they missed all four of their attempts from the floor before Virginia finally got a rebound.
On the other end, Dallin Hall converted a layup to give Virginia a 65-57 lead with less than three minutes to go. While Nate Kingz got inside for 2, Chance Mallory answered by drilling a 3-pointer.
Trailing by nine and needing a bucket, SU put the ball in Starling’s hands. His shot missed the mark before Onyenso’s alley-oop slam put the exclamation point on the game.
Based on how the game started, it was somewhat miraculous the Orange were even alive heading into the final minutes. Six minutes and 14 seconds into the game — which, as a Quad 1 game on the road, was already an unlikely one the Orange would win — Syracuse surrendered a “kill shot.” The bleeding extended to 12 unanswered points just over a minute later, giving Virginia a 16-8 lead at the 12:29 mark.
Like SU’s season, the stretch continued to spiral. While four of Naithan George’s game-high 19 points stopped the Orange’s drought, the Cavaliers saw their lead extend to 28-16 by the 8:33 mark. Perhaps looking for a spark, Autry played Bryce Zephir ahead of Kiyan Anthony — who logged his first game without action this season — in a defense-heavy lineup.
Replacing that reserve-heavy lineup with his starters, Autry found the spark he needed. Following a timeout, Syracuse embarked on a 17-5 run over the next five minutes — which included a stretch of eight consecutive points — tying the score at 33 with 3:20 remaining in the game.
Throughout that stretch and for much of the game, the Orange leaned on a 2-3 zone defense. On the offensive end, George’s 13 and Starling’s 10 first-half points kept SU afloat.
Though Syracuse never regained the lead down the final stretch of the first half, it kept its deficit to 38-35 heading into the locker room at halftime.
As they did in the first half, George and Starling stayed hot offensively while Kingz buried his first triple and William Kyle III scored his first points. That helped keep SU’s deficit at 51-46 four minutes into the half, but after Freeman — who scored five points — was stuffed at the rim, UVA got out in transition for an easy 2.
George threw the ball away on the ensuing possession, leading to another easy deuce that forced Autry to call a timeout with Syracuse trailing 55-46 at the 12:46 mark. The third-best offensive rebounding team in the country, Virginia — which registered 17 offensive rebounds and 17 second chance points to SU’s six and seven, respectively — showcased that prowess over the ensuing minutes to take a 59-48 lead with 8:42 remaining.
Four of Kingz’s 13 points cut the deficit back down to seven, which George helped trim to five with a mid-range jumper and alley-oop assist to Akir Souare sandwiched between a second-chance bucket from UVA’s Chance Mallory.
However, Syracuse couldn’t complete its comeback, suffering another pivotal Quad 1 loss.
