Why did the Wolfpack lose to Syracuse? Turnovers, indecision, rebounding.
When N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts took a look at the postgame stat sheet Tuesday after a 77-68 loss to Syracuse, it was hard to avoid or overlook the obvious.
In the turnover column, there was Jericole Hellems with four, Manny Bates with four, Cam Hayes with three, D.J. Funderburk with three ... 20 turnovers in all, by seven players.
“We were just careless with the ball tonight,” junior guard Thomas Allen said.
Careless and often indecisive. The Orange converted those 20 mistakes into 21 points. Adding to the frustration, Keatts said, were that some were “turnovers for touchdowns,” with the Pack unable to defend as the Orange came up with 11 steals.
To be sure, the Syracuse zone can be confounding. It’s a floating zone that can present a number of looks -- 2-3, 1-2-2, 1-3-1. It’s a basketball chess match and to defeat it a team must, as Keatts put it, find the cracks in the zone, handle the ball well and, of course, hit shots.
It also helps, Keatts said, to have taller guards who can see over the zone. Someone like Devon Daniels, the Pack’s 6-5 senior who Keatts said underwent successful ACL surgery on Tuesday.
Allen, who had 17 points to snap out of a shooting slump, is 6-1, as is freshman Shakeel Moore. Senior Braxton Beverly is listed at 6 feet but may be a tad shorter than that.
But indecision also can be a killer. Delay half a beat in making a pass and the zone can rotate and cover. And Syracuse also did an effective job Tuesday doubling up on Funderburk and Bates inside while also trapping when Bates had the ball in the corner.
“I think we second-guessed every decision we made,” Funderburk said. “The second-guesses were opportunities for them to get steals.”
While the Pack (8-8, 4-7 ACC) did a better job in limiting turnovers in the second half, they couldn’t keep Syracuse (11-6, 5-5) away from the offensive boards. The Orange had 11 of their 14 offensive rebounds in the second half and 12 second-chance points, a product of outhustling the Pack to the ball.
But the Pack’s ball security on offense has to improve, and especially late in games at winning time, with Keatts noting, “We’ve got to value the basketball.” There is no Markell Johnson to hand the ball to down the stretch. Daniels is out for the season.
In Tuesday’s game, the Pack fell behind 65-55 in the second half but got within 65-62. Then, Hayes turned the ball over. Syracuse scored after an offensive rebound by Quincy Guerrier but Hellems countered with a jumper and it was 67-64 with 4:46 left in regulation.
Buddy Boeheim hit a jumper for the Orange and Hellems turned the ball over. Alan Griffin, who had a game-high 22 points for the Orange, missed a shot but scored on a putback. So it went as the Orange added to the lead and wiped away some of the sting of a 78-61 loss at Clemson.
“This is a tough league, these teams are good, every game is a challenge,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said on the postgame media call. “I’m just glad we could come down here and get this win. (Our) guys made some big shots to take control of this game.”
Another tough loss for Pack
For the Pack, it was another tough loss to stomach.
“We just shoot ourselves in the foot every time we come out on a loss,” Funderburk added. “Either we’ve got the lead and shoot ourselves in the foot in the second half or from the get-go they punch us in the mouth.
“We’re always in a dogfight throughout the game and we never seem to come out of top when it comes down to those possession games and those possession key moments in the game that lets them get their lead.”
What needs to change?
“We’ve just got to play tougher,” Funderburk said. “We’ve got to be mentally locked in. It’s nothing with our skill. We can guard, we can score. But we just have too many mental breakdowns and it hurts us every time.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 10:17 PM.
