Syracuse (5-3) fell to St. John’s (6-1) 69-57 in the Carrier Dome on Saturday, and here are three takeaways from the latest installment of an old Big East rivalry.

1. Feeling Greene

Syracuse clawed back into the game in the second half and seemed to be controlling it up to the waning moments.

But then Phil Greene IV got going.

As the Red Storm milked time out of each possession, the ball ended up in Greene’s hands, all alone on the right wing where he hit a pair of 3s to silence the Carrier Dome crowd and help St. John’s pull away. Greene finished with 18 points and was the one player the Orange couldn’t stop down the stretch.

2. Get on the Buss

SU freshman point guard Kaleb Joseph was in head coach Jim Boeheim’s doghouse on Saturday, which put forward Michael Gbinije in the point guard role and gave Ron Patterson the bulk of Joseph’s second-half minutes.

Patterson took advantage of his minutes, answering a D’Angelo Harrison 3 with one of his own, and yelling “Let’s go!” at Harrison right after it with just more than 12 minutes to play. He then found a streaking Chris McCullough for an alley-oop to tie the game at 51-51 with 8:25 to go.

Heading into the game against the Red Storm, it didn’t appear that Syracuse had much guard depth. Then Patterson provided a counterargument while Joseph sat in crunch time, despite a pair of missed 3s late in the game.

3. Step behind

Early on, St. John’s guards Harrison, Greene IV and Rysheed Jordan butchered Syracuse on the fastbreak.

It prompted Boeheim to bench Joseph early in the first half after a string of mistakes, and created a track meet that the Orange couldn’t compete in. As 3 after 3 clanged off the rim — SU finished 3-for-22 from deep — its guards were slow on defense and the Red Storm used its athleticism to make the hosts pay.

As a result, every missed 3-pointer stung a little more, and added another layer to the Orange’s early-season shooting woes.

Published on December 6, 2014 at 7:49 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse