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It happened again. Syracuse came so close and was mere possessions away on yet another game. Those long faces following a heartbreaking loss, one that the Orange put nearly everything into, returned. Frustration, first at the referees, then at Syracuse’s players, was plastered across head coach Jim Boeheim’s face as a once-promising upset faded. The light and visions of a court storming dimmed and became fodder for another time.

But what could they expect with that many missed free throws — two from Judah Mintz, one from Jesse Edwards — down the stretch? Boeheim tried to calm down his team following a charge called on Edwards with exactly a minute left. It was Edwards’s fifth foul, and Mounir Hima checked in with Syracuse down by a point. They’d need one last stop to even have a chance of coming back. But Hima is playing in his first ACC season, and he let Jayden Gardner nail a jumper over him. 

The Orange couldn’t hit wide open shots when they came to them, and couldn’t settle the score by making free throws down the stretch. It’s frustrating, both Boeheim and players said after the game.

“It was just one of those games that happens in basketball,” Justin Taylor said.

Basketball happened in the worst way — again — to the Orange (13-10, 6-6 Atlantic Coast) in their 67-62 loss to No. 6 Virginia (17-3, 9-2).

“They’re the No. 6 team in the country. They’re pretty good. You have to make those (free throws) to beat them,” Boeheim said.

Syracuse can be competitive in the ACC. It can go right down to the final possession, even if it doesn’t play the perfect game. When it has been close, when shooting from the field is better than its season average, when it can force turnovers, SU has been neck-and-neck with nearly every top team in the conference. But the Orange didn’t make key shots, and Edwards didn’t play within himself. The game was primed for a Virginia upset, but Syracuse couldn’t make it happen.

The familiar sluggish start provided little offense for the Orange to keep pace with the Cavaliers. The first half was not only marred by SU turnovers, but also dominated by wide-open UVA shooters. The first three possessions ended with turnovers. First, Chris Bell lost the ball to Armaan Franklin while he was standing on the left wing. Then, Edwards traveled right before going up for a layup, and Taylor, who Boeheim subbed in right after Bell’s turnover, tossed a wide pass over Mintz’s head to draw an over and back call.

But the first half slump lasted just a few minutes. It wasn’t a hot start, but the slog through the first half stopped the first play after Boeheim called a timeout with 16:48 left in the first half. Down 10-2, the Orange immediately came out and drew up a play that found Maliq Brown on the baseline driving inside. He quickly got past his man and went through the helpside defender for a layup. Despite the slow start, the few shots the Orange were chucking up were going in. They started by making their first seven shots, which allowed them to come within one point of UVA near the 12-minute mark.

“I don’t think it’s an experience thing,” Symir Torrence said. “It comes down to who wants it more at the end of the day … Like I said, the free throws, the little rebounds that we missed, not finishing after the basket, just the little things.”

Edwards was called for an offensive foul in the final minute, picking up his fifth personal foul against the Cavaliers. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

The numbers — 64% shooting from the field, 2-of-6 from beyond the arc, seven forced turnovers — showed why the Orange were hanging with the No. 6 team in the nation through 20 minutes. With limited production from its forwards and just five points from Girard, the Orange were well within striking distance coming out of the second half. They’d need to mitigate some of the open shots, like the wide-open 3-pointer Isaac McKneeley took just before the under-four timeout. They’d need to get its shooters going more consistently, but there was room for a plausible path to a win.

The beginning of the second half took off nearly identically to the beginning of the game. Syracuse went four and a half minutes before it strung together baskets on consistent possessions, leading Virginia to leap back out to a lead as large as seven points. Nearly every shot was falling for the Cavaliers, and the Orange couldn’t find open baskets. Then, Girard pulled up from the baseline and nailed a jumper over Kihei Clark, and Mintz got fouled on a baseline jumper himself, finishing the play with an ensuing free throw.

“We had open shots. We had a lot of open shots,” Boeheim said. “You’re not going to beat Virginia if you’re shooting 3-for-15 from the 3.”

Though Syracuse pulled close toward the end of its Jan. 7 loss to then-No. 11 Virginia, any effort felt fruitless against one of the conference’s best teams. The 23-point hole that the Orange found themselves in tracked much more closely with how the game felt, and how Boeheim spoke after the 73-66 loss.

While the talented crop of Syracuse freshmen had showed true indicators of their lack of experience in ACC play, the loss to Virginia simply felt as though the Orange weren’t going to match the talent the Cavaliers had. Nineteen points from Girard and 20 combined rebounds between Edwards and Maliq simply just made the final score closer. The game felt tighter than it actually was.

“Obviously it’s super, super frustrating just because we have been shooting the ball super well,” Taylor said.

Syracuse actually held a narrow lead over the Cavaliers. That loss to UNC, and the many other close calls that ended up as losses for the Orange crept further and further into the minds of everyone that ultimately stormed the court on Monday night. They hoped against hope, groaning as Clark buried a second-chance 3-pointer to extend Virginia’s lead to 62-58 with just under three minutes left. Then, after that charge call and ensuing jumper from Gardner, the mantra of “close, but not enough” permeated once again.

“This is a different level for our freshmen. They didn’t expect it to be this difficult,” Torrence said.

Published on January 30, 2023 at 9:13 pm

Contact Anthony: [email protected] | @anthonyalandt