Four takeaways from Syracuse basketball’s loss at Florida State

The 2024-25 Syracuse Orange men’s basketball season continued to crater as the Orange fell on the road to the Florida State Seminoles by a final score of 90-74. The Orange record dropped to a 6-8 overall on the season and 0-3 in ACC play.

Florida State, the third tallest team in the nation behind Duke and Elon, took advantage of its height and athleticism in the second half, turning Syracuse over and dissecting the Syracuse defense for easy looks at the rim.

Syracuse was able to hang with Florida State in the first half but trailed 36-34 at the half. Florida State began to take advantage length as Syracuse struggled to defend the Seminoles in the second half. Florida State opened up a double-digit lead midway through the second half and hardly looked back. Syracuse had trimmed the lead to as little as eight but was unable to work the deficit to within two possessions. The Orange once again struggled to get stops and the Seminoles ran away with it late.

Florida State earned its first ACC win while Syracuse remains winless in the league and has yet to beat a Power Four team this season in seven attempts.

To the takeaways.

Return of Starling

JJ Starling officially made his return to the court for Syracuse. After a fracture to his left hand in practice leading up to the Tennessee matchup on Dec. 3, Starling returned to game action and started in his first game back. He missed seven games and the Orange went 2-5 in his absence.

Starling wore a guard on his left hand to protect his non-shooting hand. He played 32 minutes and scored 12 points on 5-16 shooting against Florida State. He started by making his first two jumpshots, but the remainder of the night was a struggle shooting the ball.

Despite the result, getting Starling back is a major tailwind for a team in desperate need of positive developments.

Defensive shortcoming persist

The worst Syracuse defensive team of the analytics era continues to struggle mightily on that end of the floor. Florida State shot 30-56 from the floor (54%) and owned the paint, scoring 40 points down low to Syracuse’s 26.

Bad to average shooting teams are having good shooting nights against Syracuse. After the worst shooting team in the ACC in Wake Forest went 9-19 from three (47.4%.) in its last game, Florida State — a team shooting 32.6 percent from three on the year — shot 7-18 from three (39%) in this game.

Syracuse even went to 2-3 zone with seven minutes remaining but still couldn’t muster the stops necessary to make a run. Teams are shooting above their averages when they square off against Syracuse. It’s the seventh time a team has scored 80 or more points on the Orange this season.

Melina Myers-Imagn Images

Turnovers becoming more problematic

Syracuse once again struggled to take care of the basketball, finishing with 15 turnovers on the game. Florida State converted on those errors to the tune of 16 points. Back to back turnovers — the first following a timeout — by Jaquan Carlos were critical during a stretch when Syracuse was still within striking distance.

The Orange have now turned the ball over 75 times in its last four games. Kyle Cuffe has taken on more ball-handling duties the last couple games and the Orange will also need Starling to provide some relief for the ball pressure Carlos faces going forward.

Bell a non-starter; breaks shooting slump

For the first time in his college career, Chris Bell did not start for Syracuse. The junior forward came off the bench and — whether in spite off or because of that fact — he broke out of an extended shooting slump. Bell finished his night with 18 points on 4-4 outside shooting including 6-7 from the free throw line.

Bell hadn’t made a three in over a month, almost the the entire length of Starling’s absence. His last three point make came in a road romp at Tennessee. Bell started his shooting night by being fouled on a corner three and made all three free throws. He’d connect on all four shot attempts from outside in 18 minutes of action.

With freshman sharpshooter Elijah Moore struggling to get playing time due to his defensive limitations, Syracuse will need more performances like this one out of Bell as he’s still the team’s best outside shooter.