After maintaining an unblemished record for nearly six weeks, Syracuse (11-1) took its first loss of the season Thursday night at the hands of No. 5 Mississippi State (13-0), 76-65, in the Duel in the Desert.

“We’ve got another game tomorrow,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “Everything’s gonna be okay, it isn’t the end of the world.”

Syracuse hung around with the Bulldogs, heading into the first quarter break down four, 22-18, thanks to a Gabrielle Cooper made 3 with two seconds left in the first frame.

Then in the second quarter, MSU started to stretch out its lead. They didn’t do it via big runs or one player taking over. The Bulldogs snatched turnovers and rarely finished empty-handed on offensive possessions. Syracuse coughed the ball up 15 times — point guard Tiana Mangakahia had eight turnovers — and Mississippi State capitalized, racking up 25 points off turnovers.

“They’re a very good team,” Hillsman said, “… We had a lot of live ball turnovers. We didn’t do a very good job of taking care of the ball.”

At the half, when Syracuse trailed 44-29, Mississippi State had three double-digit scorers, while only Cooper had reached double figures for the Orange with 13.

“We know that making shots is important,” Hillsman said. “It’s good to see Gabby heating up.”

In the third quarter, Mangakahia and forward Miranda Drummond, SU’s one-two punch so far this season, started to come alive, but it was never enough to close the gap on the defending national runner-up.

Early in the fourth quarter, SU brought the Bulldogs’ lead down to 13, but a 6-0 spurt from MSU ballooned the lead back to 19. The closest the Orange got in the second half was 11.

Mangakahia finished with 20, Drummond had 14 and Cooper led the way with 22. Still, it wasn’t enough to prevent Syracuse’s first loss of the season.

Published on December 21, 2017 at 7:51 pm

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