Three takeaways from Syracuse's overtime loss at Boston College

Syracuse twice led by nine points early in the game and by seven with under three minutes left in regulation, but gave all those leads away and got boatraced in overtime, losing in to Boston College, 81-73. Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Sloppy, sloppy offense

The Orange committed a very effective version of self-sabotage in the game, turning the ball over 18 times, including 17 in regulation. The Eagles had 11 steals in the game, tying for the second-most by any SU opponent this season and marking the fourth time an opponent reached double digits in the statistic. Three of those games were losses.

BC had 22 points off those turnovers, including 21 in regulation. In their 11-1 first half run that put them in front for the first time, two points resulted from a Syracuse miscue. While posting a 9-0 second half burst to tale their biggest lead before overtime, the Eagles had two points off a turnover.

In other words, Orange turnovers kept Boston College afloat by helping them score when they were not playing well. Had SU simply taken care of the ball at their normal game total (11.4 turnovers per game coming into the day), they almost certainly would have won with breathing room to spare.

Making things worse is that two of their best players were major contributors to the sloppy play. Donnie Freeman and Naithan George each had seven miscues in the game. Prior to the game, Freeman had seven turnovers in his worst two games of the season combined. George has committed at least six turnovers in six games this season, including three times against ACC competition.

Backcourt bellwether

George had a very rough game against Boston College, handing out just two assists against those seven turnovers. However, his struggles have not just started and they have an outsized effect on the team. Midway through the season, you can draw a direct line between George’s play and Syracuse’s success.

In 12 wins, George has shot 48.9 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from 3-point range while averaging 6.3 assists against 3.1 turnovers with 1.8 steals per game. While those numbers include games against lower-level competition, George’s two biggest games for assists came against Pittsburgh and Florida State while he has 11 turnovers combined against Delaware State and Mercyhurst.

The Orange’s six losses have seen George struggle greatly. His field goal shooting plummets to 23.3 percent overall and 31.6 percent from 3-point range. His 4-for-19 (21.1 percent) showing on 2-point field goals in losses is particularly concerning.

George’s numbers as a distributor signal several alarms. In those six defeats, George has 26 assists and 24 turnovers, which averages out to 4.3 dimes and 4.0 miscues per outing. In each of his two seasons at Georgia Tech, George did not have anything as severe as these differences in wins and losses.

It simply has to be corrected.

Bench the bench

The Orange reserves contributed very little against Boston College, mustering just two points. The usual four players saw action off the bench in Kiyan Anthony, Tyler Betsey, Akir Souare, and Sadiq White Jr., but they went a collective 0-for-6 from the field. Anthony and White each made 1-of-2 free throws to account for the points.

The quartet logged 47 minutes of playing time in the game, contributing six defensive rebounds and two assists while committing eight fouls as a group. Betsey, who had connected on 9-of-12 3-point shots against Pittsburgh and Florida State, missed a pair of attempts and went scoreless. Sadiq White did not play in the second half after committing three first half fouls.

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