Instant Juice: Syracuse 79, Temple 83

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NEW YORK – A quick take on Syracuse’s 83-79 upset loss to Temple in the Gotham Classic championship at Madison Square Garden denying Jim Boeheim his 901st career win and handing the Orange their first defeat of the season:

WHAT HAPPENED: In a very entertaining game for the Garden spectators and national ESPN TV audience, Temple shook off a 2-point halftime deficit to race out to an eight-point advantage halfway through the second half, the largest deficit for the Orange this season, before holding on and hitting their free throws down the stretch.

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Syracuse’s 53-game non-conference winning streak ended Sat.

» What did you think of the Orange’s performance? Leave your thoughts below!

ANALYSIS: Well-coached Temple had no problem figuring out the SU zone, seemingly finding the open man for second half open jump shots, and beating the Orange full court pressure for easy opportunities underneath the basket.

HERO: Owls leading scorer Khalif Wyatt shook off a poor outing in Temple’s loss to Canisius Wednesday night by pouring in a game-high 33-points, keyed by hitting all fifteen of his free throws.

» Related: Rebounding will help Syracuse this year

ZERO: The Syracuse offense and poor free throw shooting.  Michael Carter-Williams entered the game leading the nation with 10.3 assists a game.  The entire SU team finished with eight assists and missed 15 of its 34 free throws. .

WHAT’S NEXT: The Orange return home to play Alcorn State on Saturday, Dec. 29th at 7 p.m. TV: Big East Network/TWC/SNY.

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About Brad Bierman 848 Articles
Now in his sixth decade of covering SU sports, Brad was sports director of WSYR radio for eight years into the early 1990s, then wrote the Orange Watch column for The Big Orange/The Juice print publication for 18 years. A Syracuse University graduate, Brad currently runs his own media consulting business in the Philadelphia suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @BradBierman.