No. 11 Syracuse (4-3) lost its second game in a row. After dropping a game to No. 8 Ohio State on Saturday, the Orange fell to No. 18 DePaul (5-0) in the third place game of the Golf Coast Showcase, 108-84. It was the third game in three days for both teams.

The Blue Demons led 17-11 with just over four minutes left in the first quarter but they went on 12-0 run to end the frame with an 18-point advantage.

“We just came out flat … we just never really got going,” head coach Quentin Hillsman said.

“It was evident early, the first four, five possessions.”

The Orange tried to find different lineup combinations to fix the issues, as 11 different players saw at least five minutes or more in the first half, with nine of them scoring, none more than double digits. SU outscored DePaul by one in the second quarter but still went into the break with the double-digit deficit.

Hillsman said that he’s not sure why his team lacked energy on the court but that it was clear that it wasn’t playing at a high enough level to win the game.

Midway through the third quarter the DePaul lead ballooned to 26 points, the highest margin of the game.

An and-1 from Brittney Sykes late in the 4:29 left in the game trimmed the lead back down to 14 points. But two minutes later, the Blue Demons had regained a 20-point lead, going on to sub out all of the starters.

The past two games marked the first time SU suffered back-to-back losses since last January, when it lost to Atlantic Coast Conference powers Notre Dame and Louisville.

The Orange ended up shooting 43.8 percent from the field, which was a season best. But it allowed DePaul to shoot 51.4 percent and make 19 3-pointers at a 48.7 percent clip — all season highs allowed.

“We weren’t ready to play today and that falls on me as a coach,” Hillsman said. “… It’s my job to put the right product out there on the court and tonight it just wasn’t the right the product.”

Published on November 27, 2016 at 8:50 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer