CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Syracuse (8-6, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) opened up conference play with a 96-81 loss to Boston College (8-6, 1-0) on Sunday at Conte Forum.

The game marks BC’s first ACC win since March 10, 2015 and its first win over SU by more than two possessions since 1997. The Orange, meanwhile, hasn’t strung multiple wins together since November.

Here are three takeaways from the game

Syracuse’s defense crumbles again

Syracuse has had trouble defending opposing guards throughout the season. Once again, the Orange defense was torched from the outside as Boston College’s Jerome Robinson and Ky Bowman combined for 52 points. Robinson and Bowman entered the game as BC’s two leading scorers and proved their worth once again. BC’s 16 3-pointers tied a record for a Syracuse opponent. The Eagles 61.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc was the first time Syracuse has allowed a better-than-60-percent mark from 3 since at least the 2010-11 season.

Against Boston University, guard Cedric Hankerson put up 34, Georgetown guard L.J. Peak put up 23 and St. John’s’ guard Shamorie Ponds scored 21. SU head coach Jim Boeheim has harped on his guards’ defense throughout the season and the flaw came to a head once again against Boston College.

Boston College’s 96 points set a new high for an opponent against Syracuse, topping St. John’s’ 93 on Dec. 21.

Sloppy offense

Syracuse opened the game with three turnovers in the first five minutes and it didn’t get better from there. Frank Howard and Andrew White each gave away the ball twice as a part of the Orange’s 10 total first-half turnovers. White was called for a travel on Syracuse’s third possession and Boston College head coach Jim Christian clapped. With under four minutes to play in the first half, Howard drove in transition while Tyler Lydon set up on the wing for an open 3. The problem for SU was that Howard attacked the rim and was called for a charge. Howard lifted both hands up, looked at the ref after the call and the offense stalled again.

The Orange converted just 13-of-34 first-half field goals and throughout the entire half, the Eagles made plays on the defensive end, including consecutive blocks on Tyler Roberson to keep SU at bay.

SU picked it up a bit in the second half, but by that point the damage was already done. Syracuse was forced to press Boston College throughout much of the final 20 minutes and the Orange never recovered.

Lineup tinkering doesn’t work

Boeheim started freshman forward Taurean Thompson for the first time this season. He’s said that Thompson is the Orange’s best low-post scorer and it’s “not even close.” With Thompson at center, senior Dajuan Coleman didn’t start for just the fifth time in his career. Not only did Coleman start on the bench, he stayed there the entire game.

Boeheim used a seven-player rotation for most of the game as Roberson saw more minutes than he had in nonconference play against stiffer competition. But regardless of the shuffling, the Orange struggled to get anything going on either end of the floor. Roberson brings defensive awareness and is a solid rebounder but has struggled offensively. Tyus Battle provides a boost offensively, but his defensive struggles contributed to BC shooting 16-of-26 from behind the arc.

Published on January 1, 2017 at 2:41 pm

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