NEW YORK — A quick take on Syracuse’s 80-65 loss to Oregon on Friday afternoon at Madison Square Garden:
WHAT HAPPENED: Turnovers and poor shooting again doomed the Orange attack. A 13-point halftime deficit never went below eight in the second half as the Orange couldn’t string together enough offense to go on a decent run.
» Related: Silver lining for Syracuse basketball is Jalen Carey’s progress
ANALYSIS: Bol Bol, the 7-foot-2 Oregon freshman was just too big and too skilled for the Orange defense. Everytime Cuse knocked at the door in the second half, Bol answered. First he hit a twisting jumper, while getting fouled in the lane, to put the lead back up to 11 with 11:30 to go. Then it was a big three to extend the lead to a game high 15 with 8:10 remaining. Bol finished with 26 points, 9 rebounds (5 on the offensive end) and 3 blocks while shooting 11-for-17. Meanwhile, the Orange again struggled on offense shooting just 26.9% in the first half and 35.3% for the game.
HERO: Hard to pick one after back-to-back losses. Tyus Battle led the Orange with 17 points, most coming when the game was out of reach in the second half. Jalen Carey, almost by default, gets the nod thanks to a 50% shooting night en route to 14 points. He made a nifty reverse layup around Bol Bol to narrow the gap to eight and briefly electrify the Pro-Syracuse crowd with 12:25 remaining, before the wheels fell off again. Carey has shown a nose for scoring, and once Frank Howard comes back from injury to run the point, Carey will be free to play his game without ballhandling responsibilities.
ZERO: Hate to do it to him, but for the second game in a row Oshae Brissett was abysmal on offense. Following a 3-for-15 performance last night, Brissett went 0-5 in the first half and missed his first eight shots but before hitting a three with 7:48 to go in the game. He finished with 11 points but shot just 2-of-12 from the floor.
WHAT’S NEXT: Syracuse returns home to regroup and host Colgate at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday at 7 p.m. TV: ESPN3.
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