Three takeaways from Syracuse's 82-72 road win over Georgia Tech

The Orange evened out their conference record by holding off the Yellow Jackets despite late offensive struggles

Jan 6, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Syracuse Orange guard Kiyan Anthony (7) shoots against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first half at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Syracuse dominated the middle 20 minutes at Georgia Tech on Tuesday night, but gave up most of a 20-point lead before righting the ship in the final three minutes to pull out an 82-72 win.  Here are three takeaways from the victory:

The secret to SU’s big lead was their 2-point defense

While the two teams were playing a tight opening ten minutes, the Yellow Jackets made a lot of hay from inside the arc.  The hosts connected on 8-of-11 2-point field goal attempts in the opening ten minutes of play for 16 of their first 18 points.

After that, the Orange defense tightened the screws on Tech.  Over a nearly 14-minute span, SU limited the Jackets to 4-of-18 shooting from inside the 3-point line.   In that time, Syracuse built their entire 20-point lead, turning an 18-18 game into a 54-34 lead.

Georgia Tech finished the game shooting 21-of-46 (45.7 percent) from 2-point range, a mark slightly better than what the Orange permit on the season and below their own efforts on the season coming into the game.

Donnie Freeman’s big night featured a long quiet stretch

Freeman had a career-high 27 points in the victory, including 18 in the second half, but went 11:36 of game time without scoring after halftime.  Freeman did spend 2:01 of that time on the bench, but returned with 11:01 at the clock and Naithan George at the foul line to make two shots to give SU a 67-49 lead.

However, when he came back into the game, Freeman was barely a part of the Syracuse offense.  It took over two-and-a-half minutes for Freeman to get a shot and he only had three shot attempts in his first eight minutes back on the floor.

No one picked up the offensive slack in the second half

The two good things about the second half on offense for the Orange were Freeman and Naithan George’s work at the foul line.  Half of Freeman’s 18 second half points came in the first three-and-a-half minutes and George hit all eight of his foul shots, including four in the final 30 seconds to put away his former team.

Beyond that, SU hung an ugly box score.

Set aside Freeman’s efforts and the rest of the roster shot 4-of-17 from the field after halftime.  J.J. Starling was 1-of-6 with a pair of turnovers.  George and Nate Kingz were even worse, posting matching lines of 0-for-2 from the floor and four turnovers.

William Kyle III had a basket, as did Akir Souare, and Tyler Betsey made a 3-pointer.  Starling was 2-of-4 at the line, Kyle 1-of-2, and Souare missed his only attempt.

All in all, the team made two field goals in the final 11 minutes of play, a Starling lay-up with just under six minutes to go and Freeman added a dunk late in the shot clock in the final 90 seconds.

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