Syracuse lost on the road on Saturday evening, 65-60, to Georgia Tech. Here are the key takeaways from the loss.

The Orange closed the first half shooting a mere 4-for-15 from the floor, including nine straight misses from behind the arc. After J.J. Starling made his first two 3’s, the team went 1-for-15 from long range the remainder of the opening half.

Starling was the only Syracuse player to make more than one field goal in the second half.

Maliq Brown had two field goal attempts, making a dunk in the first half and a lay-up in the second. Perhaps the guy shooting 70.6 percent from the field should get a few more touches.

Georgia Tech simply ignored SU’s perimeter shooters who have been struggling. Justin Taylor and Quadir Copeland were essentially dared to shoot wide open 3-pointers and neither player could punish the Yellow Jackets for this strategy, each missing a pair of shots from behind the arc. In addition, Judah Mintz missed all four of his attempts and Kyle Cuffe Jr. all three of his while drawing more traditional defensive attention.

Syracuse has now been outscored in conference play by 89 points over 15 games.

While his flair is certainly part of his game, Copeland needs to know when to rein things in and make the simple play. He only logged two turnovers in the game, but he also had a couple passes that were off-target enough that they prevented teammates from getting open shots, including one that took Brown, who had been wide-open for a lay-up, behind the backboard just to corral the ball.

Chris Bell played with a higher level of energy than in some games in the early stages of Saturday’s contest, noticeably so on the defensive boards, collecting three rebounds in the first 11 minutes and adding a blocked shot by simply going vertical to contest a Georgia Tech player.

On the free throws after Copeland fouled out with 23 seconds remaining, the 6’2” Kyle Cuffe Jr. was on the low block, matched up against the Yellow Jackets’ Tafara Gapare, a 6’9” forward. Bell, the only forward on the floor at the time, was on the other side of Gapare. While it did not hurt anything (Kyle Sturdivant made the front end and his second shot bounced to the opposite side of the floor), it certainly looked curious.

Peter Carey missed his third consecutive game due to the concussion he suffered in practice over a week ago.

Adrian Autry used three of his allotted four timeouts before the second half was five minutes old. It is impossible to say if only having one at his disposal at that point made a difference in his strategy late in the game, especially with the limited options on the bench, but it does make one wonder if using each of the three after Tech scored two straight baskets was necessary.

The Orange (16-10, 7-8 ACC) will wrap their current road trip with a Tuesday night rematch with North Carolina State. The Wolfpack (16-9, 8-6) has lost five of their last eight, including dropping a 77-65 game in Syracuse in late January when the two teams first squared off. J.J. Starling and Judah Mintz paced SU in the win, posting 26 and 20 points, respectively. D.J. Horne topped N.C. State with 15 points while Casey Morsell added 14.

Horne leads the ‘Pack on the season with 75 3-pointers made, a 43.4 percent shooting mark from 3-point range, and a 17.2-point scoring average. D.J. Burns Jr., Morsell, and Jayden Taylor each average between 11 and 12 points per game.

Tuesday night’s tip between Syracuse and North Carolina State is set for 7:00pm Eastern and the game will be televised by ESPN2.

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