Syracuse Falls to NC State 73-58
By Adam Unger
CitrusTV Men’s Basketball Reporter.
RALEIGH, N.C.—Braxton Beverly had himself a night on Wednesday. The North Carolina State guard shot 4-of-8 from deep to lead all NC State scorers with 21 points. That set a new season high for the sophomore. He was only averaging 9.8 points per game this season.
Beverly’s big night led the NC State Wolfpack (18-7, 6-6 Atlantic Coast) to a 73-58 win over Syracuse (17-8, 8-4 ACC) Wednesday night at PNC Arena. This end result was unexpected based on how it defied trends for both squads.
The two teams were coming into Wednesday night’s matchup with streaks that suggest that Syracuse would come out on top—the Orange had won three of its last four, whereas the Wolfpack had lost three of its last four.
Both teams played sloppily out of the gate. The Orange and Wolfpack both gave up five turnovers just 12 minutes into the game. Syracuse was capitalizing on the extra chances with 24 points off turnovers, but nothing else was clicking for SU.
Tyus Battle only had seven points. Elijah Hughes couldn’t even match that effort; he had six. Oshae Brissett had just two points after three consecutive double-double performances.
The lone bright spot for Syracuse was Frank Howard. The senior guard dropped a season-high 21 points on the Wolfpack. His five three-pointers were also a personal best for the 2018-19 season.
The only other double-digit scorer in orange was Marek Dolezaj with 10 points. The Wolfpack finished with three player in double-digits. Besides Beverly, Torin Dorn added 16 and DJ Funderburk contributed 12.
Despite the slow start to the game, both teams had a lot of contributors on the stat sheet: Syracuse had ten scorers and NC State had eight.
Syracuse has a full week to rest up and go back to the drawing board. The Orange will return home next Wednesday to take on Louisville with ACC Tournament seeding potentially on the line. The Orange and the Cardinals are tied for fourth in the conference following SU’s loss.
arunger@syr.edu | @AdamUnger28
