Syracuse looks to halt discouraging trend vs. Maryland

Field Level Media|published: Fri 20th December, 12:42 2024

Nov 27, 2024; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse Orange forward Donnie Freeman (1) shoots the ball against the Cornell Big Red during the second half at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

With five losses to power conference teams and five wins over mid-majors, there's been a frustrating uniformity for Syracuse in its second season under Adrian Autry.

The Orange (5-5) will attempt to buck that trend when they face Maryland (9-2) on Saturday afternoon in the Gotham Classic in New York City.

The exasperating part for Syracuse is that most of the losses could have been wins. Four of the five defeats have come by five or fewer points. In each of those four losses, they led at some point in the second half.

In a 75-71 setback at home against Georgetown on Dec. 14, Syracuse was up 64-58 with seven minutes left. But Jaquan Carlos' 3-pointer with 4:12 to go was the final field goal for the Orange as the Hoyas made a late 7-0 run.

"Every game we've been in and we lost, we probably could have and should have won," forward Jyare Davis said. "We have got to finish."

Finishing has been difficult in more ways than one for the Orange without their top scorer, JJ Starling (19.8 points per game), who suffered a broken left (non-shooting) hand in practice early this month.

Autry said that he is "still waiting on a timeline" for the return of Starling.

Until then, Syracuse will have to rely on frontcourt players Donnie Freeman, who averages 13.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, Chris Bell (11.8 ppg) and Davis (11.1 ppg).

Maryland is off to its best start since 2019-20, with both of its losses coming to ranked teams, Marquette and Purdue, by a combined margin of nine points.

The Terrapins lead the nation in scoring margin (27.1 points per game) and are specializing in scoring sprees. They have made 18 double-digit runs this year, which is two more than they accomplished all of last season.

Three of those spurts came Tuesday in a 111-57 romp over Saint Francis (Pa.).

"We couldn't have those runs last year because we couldn't score," Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. "When you can't score, you can't press."

All five Maryland starters are scoring at a double-digit clip, led by Derik Queen (17.3), Ja'Kobi Gillespie (13.8) and Rodney Rice (12.6). Julian Reese (12.1) paces the Terrapins on the boards with 8.5 per game.

--Field Level Media