The Orange were pretty good on offense when they were not giving the ball away, but remarkably bad on defense. The Hokies scored 101 points overall and 22 off turnovers, including 14 when the Orange lost control in the second half in a 101-95 loss.

Here’s what we saw at Cassell Coliseum:

Virginia Tech’s field goal percentage by period on Saturday: 57.7 percent, 60.7 percent, 71.4 percent. All told, it was a season high 60.7 percent field goal shooting allowed by SU.

Three days after possibly their best defensive outing of the season, Syracuse couldn’t slow down a Hokie squad that entered the day 17th in the ACC at 69.0 points per game overall and 16th in conference games at 67.5 points per game. Tech came into the game shooting 43.9 percent from the field on the season and played without top scorer Tobi Lawal.

Of particular note was that Virginia Tech shot 18-of-26 on 2-point field goals after the first half and were credited with making 14-of-18 layups and dunks in the game. By comparison, the Orange were officially credited as going 20-for-33 on layups and dunks.

Syracuse committed 14 turnovers and the Hokies converted them into 22 points. The second half was particularly brutal, as the Orange gifted the hosts five turnovers in the first five minutes, which were turned into six points in helping VT clip a nine-point deficit down to four. In the final 8:30, SU gave the ball away four times and each one turned into two Virginia Tech points as they erased a 69-59 deficit.

In the first half, Syracuse shot 16-of-23 on 2-point field goals, but they saw a lot more resistance after the break, making just 7-of-17 attempts inside the arc in the second half. The Orange had a 28-14 advantage in points in the paint in the first half, but the Hokies returned the favor in the second half with a 20-12 edge.

The four reserves who saw action for SU all made contributions. Chris Bell, Kyle Cuffe Jr., Petar Majstorovic, and Naheem McLeod combined for 33 points by shooting 9-of-12 for the game, including 5-of-6 beyond the 3-point line, and 10-of-12 on foul shots. Cuffe had 13 points to lead the way, knocking down 3-of-4 3-pointers, and Bell added 11, including going 6-of-6 at the charity stripe.

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