Syracuse fell back below .500 with loss to Wake Forest on New Years Eve. Here are the key takeaways from the game.

The Orange used an aggressive style to get back into the game and ended up shooting 32 foul shots in the game. Unfortunately, they went through a foul-drawing drought in the second half after getting into the bonus just 4:22 into the second half. After that point, it took eight minutes to get three more fouls to reach the double bonus and Wake Forest outscored them by eight points in that time.

Syracuse needs to clean things up on offense. It is one thing to have deficiencies on that end, such as poor 3-point shooting, but they simply cannot keep undercutting their efforts by committing turnovers at this pace. Their 18 turnovers against the Demon Deacons made it 60 miscues in their last three games. It is a team-wide issue, as six players had at least two giveaways in each of those three games.

Kyle Cuffe Jr. had a very eventful day leading that aggressive style for SU. Unfortunately, his effort was rewarded with very little outside a series of trips to the foul line in the first half. Cuffe had 13 points, including making 8-of-9 free throws before the break, but missed all nine of his field goals in the second half, adding just one point. Cuffe finished just 2-of-14 from the field in the game, including just 1-for-8 from beyond the arc and missing a couple other tries from the mid-range.

Cuffe and Lucas Taylor led the team with 35:58 of playing time in the game, checking in early in the first half and never leaving the floor after that. Taylor had his best game for SU against his former team, tallying 16 points and five rebounds against Wake. In his two years with the Demon Deacons, Taylor’s highs were six points and four rebounds, both coming in his sophomore season.

Chris Bell was on the opposite end of Taylor’s playing time, getting just under nine first half minutes and finishing with zero points and two turnovers. Bell has not made a 3-pointer in four weeks and is lodged in an 0-for-12 slump.

Elijah Moore also spent the entire second half on the bench, finishing with under six minutes on the floor. Both his first half cameos ended quickly after defensive miscues.

After struggling on a perimeter-laden shot diet in the first half, the Orange made a concerted effort to get inside and it drew results. Syracuse had 17 shots just outside the restricted area or closer and made nine of them after just four shots in close before halftime.

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