7 takeaways from Syracuse's 85-69 loss to Florida State

Syracuse lost for the first time at home this season, dropping an 85-69 decision to Florida State on Tuesday evening at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Here are the key takeaways from the loss.

Syracuse has had a rough go of things against major conference foes this season, in spite of their 7-6 mark against them. The Orange have been outscored in those 13 games by a total of 43 points and all six losses have been by at least 16.

Not only has SU been on the bad side of the scoreboard in 11 of the 12 halves of play in those games, but each one of those losses has featured at least one half where they were outscored by double figures. The scoring margins by halves in those six losses to power conference teams:

• Tennessee: -5, -12

• Gonzaga: - 12, -5

• Virginia -13, -9

• Duke -2, -18

• North Carolina -22, -14

• Florida State +1, -17

The nine turnovers SU forced were a season low. The 16 that they committed were the fourth-highest mark on the season and are signaling a trend. Syracuse has turned the ball over 50 times in their last three losses. In their last five wins, they have committed 46 miscues.

J.J. Starling’s stellar shooting from the last several weeks was nowhere to be found against the Seminoles. Not only did he shoot just 4-of-14 overall and miss all five of his shots from beyond the arc, his only basket outside the restricted area was a short, contested baseline jumper just outside the key where he also drew the foul, but missed the free throw.

Chris Bell made the lone 3-pointer on the night for the Orange, a season-worst effort from the team.

The team missed their final ten shots from long range and finished the game with only three of their 23 field goals coming from outside the key.

Their perimeter shooting struggles again underscore this group’s need to lead or at least stay close in games to preserve their chances at victory.

In the first half, three of the forwards each got a little over their skis overdribbling in the first half. Chris Bell, Justin Taylor, and Benny Williams each got caught handling the ball too much on an offensive possession, resulting in either a poor shot that missed (Bell and Taylor) or turnover (Williams).

The team hardly had a chance to use it since they were not making any shots late, but their full court press was not nearly as effective against Florida State as it had been against Colgate early in the season.

The Seminoles easily beat the press on its first chance for an alley-oop and had no issues against it the second time they saw it, settling for killing clock after getting across midcourt.

Meanwhile, SU struggled against FSU’s pressure, including committing a ten-second violation in the first half.

Syracuse (13-6, 4-4 ACC) puts a bow on their three-game homestand Saturday night when North Carolina State comes to town. The Wolfpack (13-5, 5-2) have won six of their last eight games, but were tripped up by Virginia Tech at home on Saturday. They will also travel to Virginia for a Wednesday night matchup prior to facing off with the Orange.

The ‘Pack runs eight deep in their rotation with half those players averaging double digits in scoring. D.J. Horne is N.C. State’s leading scorer at 15.1 points per game and also paces the team with 48 3-pointers on the season on 42.1 percent shooting from deep. Jayden Taylor, J.J. Burns Jr., and Casey Morsell combine to average a shade over 36 points per game. Burns was one of three Wolfpack players to score 15 points in their loss to SU last season.

Tip-off is set for 7:00pm Eastern on Saturday and the game will be available on the ACC Network.

----

Chat about this story and all things Syracuse and Syracuse recruiting on our premium message board, Cuse Classified!

Follow us on Twitter @TheJuiceOnline, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram @SUJuiceOnline and listen to our podcast.

Tips/questions/concerns? E-mail Recruiting Analyst Charles Kang here.

Not a subscriber to The Juice Online? Join today for access to all our premium content and message board community.