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BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Syracuse found itself at a new rock bottom Saturday at the Barclays Center. While Maryland entered with the best scoring margin in the nation at 27 points per game, the Orange saw their performance as more of their own troubles catching up to them.

“Honestly, it’s a lot to do with us, more so than what they did,” forward Jyáre Davis said postgame.

Syracuse (5-6, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) fell 87-60 to Maryland (10-2, 1-1 Big Ten) Saturday in the Gotham Classic in Brooklyn, dropping below the .500 mark for the first time this season. The Orange trailed by 26 points at halftime, turning the ball over 12 times while totaling just 17 points. The Terrapins finished the job in the final 20 minutes to hand SU its largest loss of the year.

Losses have filled Syracuse’s early schedule, but the one to the Terrapins was different. SU fell to Tennessee by 26 less than three weeks ago. A season-high 21 turnovers Saturday, however, created what SU head coach Adrian Autry categorized as the “worst” loss of his 43-game head coaching tenure.

“We got our butts kicked. It was embarrassing, very disappointing,” Autry said. “The one thing that we’ve done all year, even though we’ve come up short, we’ve competed. Today, that wasn’t the case.”

Autry’s driving force of disappointment in his team came in their fight. He said the word “fight” seven times in the postgame press conference, continuously using it to harp on the lack thereof in his group.

Grabbing loose balls, boxing out, rebounding or pressuring the ball — Autry didn’t see any of it. Syracuse, surprisingly, notched its best 3-point shooting performance of the season, going 8-for-16. Still, it didn’t matter much with the lack of ability everywhere else on the court.

One of the largest areas worked on throughout the practice week was getting open. Autry said the team continuously emphasized, “Fight the pressure, you got to fight the pressure.” Yet, nothing seemed to work.

Out of the gate, Autry appeared to alter his lineup for a bigger group, inserting Davis for Elijah Moore. Davis was announced as the starter, but Moore came out in the warmup lines when starters were announced.

The lineup quickly struggled offensively. Davis turned the ball over on a baseline pass, and Maryland’s Selton Miguel knocked down a 3. On the second possession, Eddie Lampkin Jr. attempted a pass off the defender out of bounds, but it bounced into the hands of Miguel. The senior drew a foul and finished both chances at the charity stripe.

Moore quickly substituted in for Davis. Postgame, Autry characterized it as a “miscommunication” rather than a strategy, not diving deeper into why Davis started.

With Moore now in the game, a slugfest filled with turnovers and poor shooting took over the next seven minutes of play, with no stoppages until 12:56 to play in the first half.

The Orange turned the ball over four more times. Lampkin, Moore and Chris Bell each added 2s, but the Terrapins extended their lead to 12-6 on 3s from Miguel and Rodney Rice.

Out of the timeout, Lampkin was substituted out and Autry inserted the fresh legs of guards Kyle Cuffe Jr. and Lucas Taylor. SU’s defense cracked down, forcing a shot-clock violation and an airball by center Derik Queen.

Maryland answered with two layups inside, but Taylor knocked down a 3 for SU with under 10 minutes to play in the half — Syracuse’s first make from beyond the arc.

Miguel — who entered nearly 41% from 3 — drew nylon again, extending UMD’s lead to 19-9. After a Jaquan Carlos mid-range score, Maryland broke off two more inside finishes, building a 23-11 advantage just 12 minutes into the game and forcing a Syracuse timeout.

No matter who shuffled in for the Orange, they couldn’t find a rhythm. Entering the contest, SU’s most turnovers in a game this season was 13 against Notre Dame. At the half, Syracuse already had 12.

The pressure surmounted for SU on its ball handlers, showing a clear inability to get anything going. Carlos totaled four turnovers while playing all 40 minutes in the contest, with only one coming in the first half. Still, in J.J. Starling’s continued absence, Carlos was unequivocally the only capable ball handler on the squad.

Maryland head coach Kevin Willard credited Carlos’ effort but also acknowledged Carlos as the only ball handler, making SU easier to defend. Carlos said Syracuse’s staff prepared him for the pressure he would face, forcing him to play faster.

“Maryland did what we knew it was gonna do. When you turn the ball over 21 times, you can’t win any game doing that,” Autry said.

The Terrapins ended the first half on a 17-2 run across the final four minutes, as a two-handed slam from Jordan Geronimo with five seconds to play capped the effort. Lampkin totaled nine rebounds, but Maryland was far ahead in the driver’s seat with a 43-17 lead.

The deficit only grew more embarrassing at the start of the second half. Julian Reese walked inside for two easy finishes. Miguel then added on with two 3s to push his total to 22 at the time, three more than SU’s entire roster. Donnie Freeman sprinkled in a pull-up midrange, but the Terrapins poured it on.

A few minutes into the half, Lampkin attempted a turnaround floater but was swatted by Queen. Maryland again answered with a triple, this time from Jay Young. The Terrapins continued to add, and SU delved into its bench. Petar Majstorovic saw more minutes as Davis didn’t touch the floor in the second half until 11:01 left in the game.

With a little more than 10 minutes to play, a horrid showing of offensive play encapsulated the game for the Orange. As Cuffe — who notched 10 points — crashed into Majstorovic, sending the shot attempt backward.

SU recovered, and Cuffe knocked down the triple, but Maryland answered with a quick 13-0 run. The Terrapins reached their biggest lead of the day at 38 with 7:30 to go. The Orange slowly fought back, mounting a 9-0 run courtesy of Freeman and Lampkin. The run wasn’t nearly enough to make a comeback.

Postgame, Davis described the performance as demoralizing. Carlos called it pathetic. Multiple players postgame pointed out the coaching staff’s preparation for the game, saying Autry can’t go out there and make the plays for the team and they must do it themselves.

“This loss doesn’t show who we are,” Carlos said. “We know that we’re not that team that played today.”

Syracuse has turned in its fair share of embarrassments in its early tenure under Autry. SU lost by 36 to UNC and 29 to Wake Forest a year ago. A few weeks ago, the Orange fell to Tennessee by 26.

Saturday’s abysmal display against the Terrapins added to the collection, slotting at the top of the list.

“You can play games, you can lose games, but you have moments that you play well and you give yourself a chance to win. Today that didn’t happen, that didn’t happen at all,” Autry said.

Published on December 21, 2024 at 2:04 pm

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