Markell Johnson’s 3-pointer froze Jim Boeheim. It gave North Carolina State a three-point lead with 33.4 seconds locked on the clock. The Wolfpack held on, handing Syracuse its seventh loss in conference and ending its two-game win streak.

In a matchup of two NCAA Tournament bubble teams with nearly identical resumes, Syracuse (17-9, 6-7 Atlantic Coast) fell to North Carolina State (17-9, 7-6), 74-70. On Wednesday night inside the Carrier Dome, the Orange entered the game winners of two straight, while NCSU lost in its previous outing to No. 14 North Carolina. The Wolfpack has beaten North Carolina (road), Duke (home) and Clemson (home) this season, which would have given weight to an SU win.

Freshman forward Oshae Brissett led Syracuse with 25 points in front of 21,125 fans. The Orange dropped a winnable home game with five games remaining on the schedule, three of which are against opponents ranked in the Top 25.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s game.

Bubble implications

Wednesday night’s game featured a pair of middle-of-the-pack ACC teams fighting for NCAA Tournament eligibility. Both teams could go dancing. Both may not. Or, only one of them could. But one thing became slightly clearer: Syracuse has made it more difficult to play in the Tournament.

The Orange is predicted to lose each of its remaining five games, according to Kenpom.com. Some NCAA Tournament projection brackets include Syracuse, while others do not. The final five games will be telling, of course, but Wednesday’s loss is significant. Mainly, because it came at home.

N.C. State has a top-five offense in the ACC, scoring 80.9 points per game entering Wednesday. Four players average double-digit scoring and nine players typically play every night. That depth aided in NCSU’s attack, which handed SU a tough loss.

Next up for Syracuse is a trip to Miami this weekend, followed by UNC and Duke in a four-day span. Boston College and Clemson round out the Orange’s remaining games.

Matthew Moyer’s move

Before tipoff, Syracuse’s redshirt freshman Matthew Moyer jogged out to the hoop like the rest of his teammates. Except Moyer did not play Sunday because of lingering pain from the high-ankle sprain he sustained Jan. 24 against Boston College. Moyer wore a protective boot on his left ankle during SU’s victory over Wake Forest last weekend, and his status was unclear.

The 6-foot-8 forward who started Syracuse’s first 20 games warmed up with no boot. It was clear that he did not have full strength in his ankle, but he logged productive minutes for SU. He finished with eight points and a handful of quality defensive plays. Over his previous three games off the bench, Moyer had played 34 minutes and scored just two points. Head coach Jim Boeheim made clear that he would not be back in the starting lineup anytime soon, given his lack of contribution to the SU offense. Wednesday he reversed that.

With 8:30 left, he drove to what appeared to be an opening in the paint but threw the ball to NCSU, whose Allerik Freeman converted a three-point play at the other end. Junior center Paschal Chukwu entered for Moyer, who was given a round of applause. He re-entered at the four-minute mark, with SU trailing by five.

His emergence Wednesday, however slight, offers an idea of what he could add to Syracuse’s depleted frontcourt. Freshman Bourama Sidibe is battling tendinitis, and he has struggled in conference play after a fairly promising first month and a half. Chukwu has been up and down. Freshman Marek Dolezaj has been the lone consistent player on both ends of the floor inside the paint.

Achilles arc

The 3-point shot has been Syracuse’s Achilles heel the past two games. Sunday in a near-comeback, Wake Forest drilled six 3-pointers because of a late adjustment in response to one Syracuse had made. The Demon Deacons hit 10 of their 23 long balls to account for 30 of their 70 points.

But WFU scored only 18 points inside. That’s why Boeheim has said it’s not an issue if teams hit 3s but don’t score well inside. When teams can beat the zone via the 3 and inside, that hurts, Boeheim said.

Down the stretch, NCSU’s Sam Hunt hit back-to-back 3s in front of his own bench. The latter stretched the Wolfpack’s lead to seven with 2:20 remaining. Brissett answered with a 3 of his own, but then NCSU hit the dagger. Johnson drilled back-to-back corner 3s to give NCSU the victory.

Published on February 14, 2018 at 11:20 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21