Five Takeaways: Florida State 85 Syracuse 69

Syracuse basketball fell 85-69 to Florida State for its first home loss of the season. Here are five takeaways from the game.

1. Turnovers

Syracuse was very sloppy with the ball, turning it over 16 times. Several of those were simply mental lapses. Whether it was the 10 second violation in the first half or the stepping in bounds instead of passing it in bounds after a made basket in the second half. Some of that is due to Florida State's length. They are long at every position and even when going to the bench, they did not get any smaller. It clearly impacted Syracuse in some way, but that is not an excuse. You cannot turn it over that many times and expect to win.

2. Off Game

Something just seemed off from the get-go. JJ Starling was missing the shots he normally makes. Everyone was missing free throws. Chris Bell could not find the bottom of the net. Benny Williams was missing easy point-blank put backs. Quadir Copeland got into foul trouble right away. The defensive intensity was not there. Something was just off all game. That can happen during the course of the season.

3. Defense

Very surprised at the lack of defense from Syracuse in this one. If Florida State did not miss a few open looks from the outside in this one, it could have been worse. But Syracuse offered no resistance to the Noles in getting into the lane nor finishing at the basket. FSU got seemingly whatever it wanted, especially in the second half. Syracuse forced just nine turnovers, gave up 50 second half points while allowing 58% shooting. I get that the offense was not having its best night, but those are the nights you need the defense to step up and carry the day. That did not happen.

4. Offensive Movement

Syracuse lacked movement in the half court in this game and the ball stuck with dribblers for far too long. That put Syracuse in a precarious position of being forced to iso late in shot clocks. This was most notable in the second half when Syracuse went nearly five minutes without scoring as Florida State pulled away. In the previous two games, the ball moved and players moved. Everyone was willing to share the basketball, and that led to much more efficient offense. Syracuse was 1-14 from three point range in this game. Judah Mintz tried to carry the team and did score 28 points. He was very good from a scoring perspective, but got virtually no help. You cannot win like that.

5. Bad Loss

Listen, Florida State is playing high level basketball right now. This is not a bad loss because of them. They are 8-3 since getting Primo Spears into the lineup. Unfortunately for Syracuse, the Seminoles have seven losses total, including defeats to South Florida and Lipscomb. That puts FSU in the 90s in NET ranking prior to Tuesday night's game. When NCAA Tournament time comes around, assuming Syracuse is on the bubble, this loss will be viewed in the "bad loss" category by the committee. That is barring a run of FSU wins for the rest of the season. But they have games against North Carolina, Virginia, Duke and Clemson remaining along with more road contests, which may be difficult. Without that, this likely remains a “bad loss” for resume purposes. That makes Saturday's game against NC State all but a must win.

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