Syracuse snaps 2-game skid with 107-100 win over Cal after 2OT, power outages
J.J. Starling dropped 21 points on nine made field goals in Syracuse's double-overtime win over Cal Wednesday. Matthew Crisafulli | Staff Photographer
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Syracuse is reeling. The blue seats around the JMA Wireless Dome prove it.
Fresh off back-to-back road losses to ranked opponents, the Orange certainly didn’t expect a hero’s welcome home. But this was worse than normal.
Cal head coach Mark Madsen’s marching orders could be heard clearly from across the lower level. A simple high-five between Syracuse’s Akir Souare and Sadiq White Jr. echoed to the press row like it was feet away. If it wasn’t poetic enough, the power went out multiple times. All on the same day, SU’s director of athletics announced his retirement.
It’s just another day in the current state of Syracuse men’s basketball.
Syracuse (14-11, 5-7 Atlantic Coast) took down Cal (17-8, 5-7 ACC) 107-100 Wednesday in double overtime, notching a Quad 2 victory and its best in conference play. Nate Kingz and J.J. Starling combined for 48 points as 50 minutes of play ended with the Orange on top.
The pandemonium within the Dome, considering a small crowd and a matchup between two middling ACC teams, was remarkable. Both sides at times looked as if they were trying not to win.
In the second overtime, two hours and 30 minutes after the game tipped off, Donnie Freeman overcame his shortcomings through the first 45 minutes of play to help the Orange garner a 96-93 lead with under three minutes to play.
The lead grew to six with a 3 from Kingz. The Orange remained with a cushion the rest of the way, making just enough free throws to hold on. February madness.
How did we get here?
Given how the game went back and forth, it was destined for at least one overtime. Dai Dai Ames missed a fadeaway at the regulation buzzer to force overtime. The Orange took the first lead of the extra period with a free throw from Freeman. Ames answered with a tough finish inside, and Freeman missed two free throws.
As the scoreboard went out in overtime, the game resumed with just a shot clock and a game clock. Old-fashioned, you could say.
Tied at 87-87 with under a minute to go in overtime, Starling drove to the bucket and finished the layup. The Orange then corralled a loose ball with the possession arrow, getting Naithan George to the free-throw line.
George split the pair, and Ames flushed a deep 2 to make it 90-89 with 10 seconds to play in regulation. Kingz split another pair, and the Golden Bears made SU pay again. Ames’ shot attempt was blocked, but Milos Illic followed the shot up at the buzzer, forcing another overtime.
Way before an all-out scoreboard outage and late-night heroics, there was, of course, a regulation.
With under six minutes to play in regulation, both squads were tied at 69-69. Then came Chris Bell’s momentary revenge. The former Orange forward squared up a 3 from straightaway, splashing it. As he ran back down the court, Bell raised three fingers to the air before tapping the top of his head.
In Chris Bell’s first game against Syracuse since joining Cal, the forward dropped 18 points on four 3s. Bell spent three seasons with the Orange from 2022-25. Matthew Crisafulli | Staff Photographer
Syracuse carved into the three-point deficit at the free-throw line with splits from William Kyle III and Starling. The Orange had a chance to reclaim the lead with Freeman at the charity stripe, though he missed both. Ames drove for a layup to pad the lead to three, but with less than two minutes to play, Starling answered back with one of his own.
Like a seesaw, both sides traded the lead on and off in the contest’s final minutes.
Ames came back with a spinning layup to tie the game 78-78, with just under 40 seconds left. SU called a timeout with all the time in the world to draw up a potential lead-taking play in the closing seconds. Instead, the play was busted before it started, as Starling traveled at mid-court with 22.3 seconds to go.
Starling made up for his mistake on the other end to force overtime, holding Ames to a poor shot.
In his return to Syracuse, Bell attempted a 3 out of the gate but missed. He later knocked one down off an offensive rebound, receiving some boos from the sparse crowd.
When Bell wasn’t shooting, the rest of the Golden Bears were still clawing from deep. Cal entered third in the conference from 3 at 37.3%. With Bell as an obvious threat, Ames and John Camden both have shot over 40% from deep this year.
Justin Pippen knocked down a 3 to start, and Camden also found nothing but nylon. The Golden Bears maneuvered through the Orange while working in a 2-3 zone, opening up the perimeter.
SU reclaimed the lead off a few 3s and worked into its bench with Kiyan Anthony, making his first appearance since the North Carolina game. He didn’t add much, though White made multiple strong moves inside as both sides wrestled back and forth with the lead.
With the Golden Bears’ 3-point prowess, the Orange’s game plan was clearly to match it. Syracuse attempted 16 shots from deep in the first half, with many of them way off the mark and just three going in. At some points, SU was simply shot-chucking. The Orange still found a way to enter the half tied at 35-35.
Down the stretch, it was anyone’s game to win. For Syracuse, it will take anything it can get. For Cal, it’s trying to keep its March Madness bubble status alive with a Quad 1 win.
Amid all the distractions, the Orange found a way.
