The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team saw its season come to a close in the ACC Tournament Second Round against the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. SMU handed Syracuse a decisive 73-53 defeat inside the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
The SMU defense proved a tough row to hoe as Syracuse (14-19) shot 18-53 from the floor and turned it over 15 times. The Mustangs (23-9) had 18 points off Syracuse's turnovers and won the rebounding battle 36-28. SMU's bench doubled up on Syracuse's 28-14. The Mustangs had four players score in double-figures.
JJ Starling finished with 16 points on 6-17 shooting while Jyare Davis added 14. Eddie Lampkin finished with 5 points and 10 rebounds.
The intensity was high from the opening tip as Starling started the scoring with a three from the corner. He and Lampkin would then score in the paint to take a 7-5 lead at the first media timeout. Taylor picked up two early fouls less than eight minutes in. He was replaced by Kyle Cuffe as Naheem McLeod and Petar Majstorovic checked in for Lampkin and Davis.
SMU took its first lead lead at 12-11 as BJ Edwards had an unfettered drive to the rim. Cuffe took the lead back at 13-12 with two made free throws. Starling sat for a quick blow as Chris Bell replaced him and immediately had a block as Syracuse went 2-3 zone. The transition play led to a McLeod bucket on the other end.
Starling didn't sit long as he checked back in for Carlos. Both teams seemed to hit a snag midway through the half with miscues and missed shots. Bell hit his first three to reclaim the lead 19-18. Then he threw an considerably high alley-oop to Cuffe, which ended exactly as one would expect. Bell picked up two fouls as he was outmatched by Matt Cross down low. Autry replaced him with Carlos and went to a three guard lineup.
Lampkin was limited in both halves against the 7-foot-2 Samet Yigitoglu. He struggled to find shots as the defense collapsed on him when dribbling underneath the basket. It was back and forth in the first half with teams trading leads until Chuck Harris connected on a three to go up 22-21. SMU had claimed the lead for the final time.
Taylor came back into the game with two fouls at the 4:34 mark. Then Lampkin picked up his second foul 70 feet from the basket and was forced to sit. McLeod did a solid job replacing him for the final four minutes of the half, which included two blocked shots.
Syracuse struggled to make shots during the last stretch of the first half and turned the ball over, resulting in a 12-1 SMU as Kario Oquendo made back-to-back threes. Syracuse would answer as Starling connected on another corner three and Davis added one from the left wing to make it a three point game.
SMU went into the break leading 31-28. Syracuse had a slight rebounding edge 17-15. SMU had 4 turnovers to Syracuse's eight, of which the Mustangs manufactured into 11 points.
SMU scored the first seven points out of the break. Autry called an early timeout after a Starling pass sailed over Carlos' head out of bounds. SMU began to create separation, opening up a double-digit lead with another Harris three.
Bell and Cuffe came in as early second half subs as Syracuse gave the Mustangs a different look by going 2-3 zone. The defensive switch was to no avail; Harris hit another three to extend the lead to 13. Davis manage to stop the bleeding temporarily with a mini 5-0 run. Lampkin found him on the short roll and he finished a nifty finish through traffic. Then he hit a three. SMU answered with Matt Cross, who rebounded against Syracuse's zone and scored on a putback.
Starling came out of the game for a period and spent some time on the exercise bike. He exited at the 15:55 mark and return until the 11:20 mark. As he reentered, Yigitoglu came out of the game writhing in pain. He collided with McLeod and immediately grabbed his left shoulder. With Syracuse staying in zone, Cross took advantage with an uncontested jumpshot from the high post. The Mustangs led by a dozen. Lampkin made his way to the scorer's table.
Syracuse went back to man-to-man after the under eight minute media timeout. It didn't matter. Syracuse couldn't string together stops and Starling couldn't muster his offense down the stretch as missed shots proceeded to mount. Autry reinserted his starters into the game at the six minute mark. Yigitoglu checked back in for SMU.
The Orange picked up full-court with under five minutes left and began trapping in the half-court. SMU was just too tough, and too disciplined with the basketball. Easy baskets were given up and the deficit grew. Syracuse was unable to work the deficit back to within single digits. Trailing by 17, Autry inserted the walk-ons with 49 seconds left as SMU executed down the stretch to win going away.
Syracuse has yet to win two consecutive ACC Tournament games since joining the league over 11 years ago. The Orange season comes to a close in the ACC Tournament second round. All eyes turn toward an interesting offseason and eventually, a defining 2025-26 season.