It will be seen as a night to forget.
No. 13 Tennessee basketball dropped its second matchup of the year, 62-60, in uninspiring fashion to Syracuse in the JMA Wirless Dome. The Vols (7-2) came out of the gates slowly and paid for another turnover-laden outing, succumbing to the Orange (5-3) in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
Jaylen Carey rolled towards a career-most 22 points, grabbing nine rebounds in a valiant offensive effort.
Nate Kingz led the way for Syracuse with 19 points while JJ Starling delivered in the clutch to reach 12 points.
Ugly opening
Tennessee didn’t leave its lackadaisical second-half performance against Kansas in Las Vegas, at least to start its first true road game of the season.
The Vols began the night missing their first six shots from the field, scrambling to find any open looks through the stingy defense of Syracuse. Luckily for Tennessee, the Orange didn’t make it pay too harsh a price.
Syracuse started 2-for-6 shooting while committing some early turnovers that limited possession time. It became clear that scoring runs would be tough to come by, at least to start things off. Neither team could grab sustained momentum.
Carey carries
Carey finally converted the Vols’ first field goal at the 15:58 mark of the first half, and Tennessee couldn’t find its offense any other way.
The 6-foot-8 big man found his groove in the paint, rattling off a quick 10 points to keep his guys up to pace on the scoreboard. His teammates looked to him down low as they continued to fire misses. Carey muscled his way towards six rebounds in the opening stanza, providing one of the only signs of life for a sluggish-looking Vols contingent.
Throughout the rest of the frontcourt, Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips didn’t provide much value. The pair combined to finish -21 on the game during their time on the floor.
A one-dimensional offensive attack still didn’t bode well for the Vols’ chances to come out with a win, but the Vanderbilt transfer didn’t care. He continued to dictate Tennessee’s attack in the second half on his way to a career-night.
Turnover trouble returns
After cleaning up the giveaways in its last few games, Tennessee fell right back into one of its early season traps.
Errant passes and some poor ball handling led to free possessions and points for Syracuse. Four different players committed multiple turnovers on the night, a number that the Orange turned into 24 points.
Nate Ament showed some freshman growing pains, giving away the basketball seven times.
Trading blows
A messy battle like this one needed an entertaining resolution.
Tennessee got itself back the lead with a 10-0 run near the midway point of the second half as the Orange went cold. Starling hit a pair of big buckets to regain a Syracuse advantage, but Bishop Boswell knotted things up with a nifty layup in the final minute.
A foul sent Orange big man William Kyle III to the charity stripe where he hit one free throw to give his guys a one-point lead. Tennessee had the ball in its hands when it mattered most.
With .4 seconds remaining, Ament’s last ditch layup attempt yielded nothing to seal the Vols’ fate.
