Syracuse crumbles in 78-71 loss to Georgetown

The Syracuse Orange lost to the Georgetown Hoyas, 78-71 on a day that the program honored Pearl. L.J. Peak led the Hoyas with 23 points, while Rodney Pryor added 20 points for the (7-4) Hoyas. Meanwhile, Tyler Lydon led the Orange with 29 points and nine rebounds. However, Lydon had little help during his career performance. 

The sophomore forward was sensational all day, hitting 12-13 from the field, including making all three attempts from 3-point range. Unfortunately, the rest of the team did not follow the lead. As a team, the Orange shot 14-25 from the foul line, while Georgetown made 22-25 freebies. 

John Gillon and Andrew White III also joined Lydon in double figures. They were also two of the biggest culprits in the loss to the Hoyas. Gillon shot 4-14 from the field, missing countless layups from all angles. He repeatedly beat the Hoyas in the paint, but had difficulty finishing plays. He finished second on the team with 13 points. In fact, Gillon should be the least of their worries. 

Meanwhile, White made 3-11 shots from the field for 12 points. He was 2-8 from 3-point range. Once again, White failed to show up during level competition. The Orange started the game with a two point guard lineup. Gillon joined Frank Howard in the back court. Howard turned the ball over six times on quite a few blunders. 

One reason why the Orange started two point guards was due to the loss of Tyus Battle. After missing a week of practice, Battle played Sparingly. He started the prior two games at shooting guard. 

The Hoyas shot 47 percent from the field. They held the Orange to 44 percent from the field. The disparity may have been due to the quality of shots. The Hoyas made 6-of-14 shots from 3-point range, while Syracuse shot 7-of-20 from beyond the arc. Once again, the Orange have settled for too many long jump shots. 

A perfect example was White's miss on a 3-point attempt. The Orange had a chance for an easy lay up. However, they went for a long bomb with nobody entering the paint on a fast break. The play was part of many wasted possessions by the Orange offense. 

First half 

The first half was not a thing of beauty for the Orange. L.J. Peak hit a floater to tie the score at 33 before the break. The Cuse jumped out to a 17-11 lead, but the Hoyas stormed back to take a 25-22 lead late in the half. From there, the rest of the first half was tight. 

First, Gillon connected on his second 3-pointer of the game to tie the score at 25. Soon after, Taurean Thompson made a nice up and under move for a 3-point play. Thompson also got to the line seven times in the first half. He made five and scored seven first half points. 

Lydon led the way with nine points, while Gillon added eight in his first start for the Orange. Overall, the Orange shot 5-of-14 from 3-point range in the first half. Once again, White got off to a hot start, but went cold for most of the first half. White went 2-6 from downtown in the first half. He had plenty of open looks early-on. Yet, the shots were not falling.

Lydon's two offensive rebounds led to a couple of buckets for the sophomore. He made all four of his field goal attempts in the first half. 

Howard continued his erratic play with three first-half turnovers. He added two assists and two steals. However, Howard had an opportunity for an easy fastbreak dunk. Instead, he went for a tomahawk slam that was blocked by Peak. After missing an open three, the Orange finished the possession with no points.