Texas Tech 79, Syracuse 74: Orange come up empty in 2024 Legends Classic

Live. Die. Repeat. For the second night in a row, Syracuse fought hard but came up just short in Brooklyn.

The Syracuse Orange (3-2) for a second straight night held on strong and stayed close throughout most of the game, but in the end failed to generate enough consistent momentum in the second half as the team fell 79-74 to the Texas Tech Raiders (5-1) on Friday night in Brooklyn.

Compared to their previous game versus the Texas Longhorns, the Orange competed well in the first half (particularly on defense) but just couldn’t fully keep up on offense once the Raiders starting to get things going in the second half. Syracuse only led for a 1:43, tied the contest 10 different times, trailed by as much as 12 points and (yet again) rallied to get within an arm’s distance with just minutes to go, but the Raiders held on long enough to hand the Orange their second straight loss.

Both J.J. Starling (team-high 27 points, 9/15) and Chris Bell (22 points, 3/8 from three) each finished in double-figures, combining for 45 of the Orange’s 70 points. Syracuse ended up shooting way better from the foul line (24/28, 86%), but a 39% field goal percentage and a 12-3 turnover deficit proved to be deciding factors against a deep, talent Raiders squad.

Four players scored 10 points or more for Texas Tech, with the duo of Darrion Williams (20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) and JT Toppin (15 points, 5/16) coming up big in the second half. Timely shots from the perimeter by Chance McMillian (13 points, 3/6 from three) and Elijah Hawkins (11 points, 2/4 from three) also assisted in sparking Texas Tech’s rally.

Unless their last game, the Orange were able to get some early offense and trailed by just two points (9-7) by the first media timeout. Toppin scored within the game’s first 10 seconds, but consecutive turnovers by Texas Tech led to a fastbreak layup from Starling and a corner three-pointer from Bell to put Syracuse up 5-2. The Red Raiders made three straight before a mid-range shot from Carlos knotted the game back up at 7-7.

After the timeout, a brief stretch saw Syracuse miss six of its next seven shots led to Texas Tech going up 14-9, with the Raiders getting six assists on their first six shots before Bell responded with his second three to keep the deficit at two (14-12) with 11:50 left in the first half. Texas Tech relied on its depth and feeding the Toppin-Williams combo in the post to kick out to the perimeter, which allowed the Raiders to stay ahead between 3-5 points for most of the first half.

After not playing last game, Petar Majstorovic got a bucket in his first minutes off the bench, followed by consecutive makes from Starling to tie the game back at 16-16. Syracuse’s three-pointer fared much better compared to most of the year, starting the game off going 4/10 from distance to stay within two points (24-22).

Texas Tech would end up going up as much as seven points (29-22), but it was Starling who continued to attack at the rim and on the perimeter. Starling ended up with 14 first-half points, and better defense against the Red Raiders saw Syracuse close the half on a 9-2 run to tie the game back up at 31-31 by halftime.

Starling and Bell combined for 22 of the Orange’s 31 points in the first half, but a more competitive start was held a bit back by eight turnovers in the half. For Texas Tech, Williams led the way with 7 points, but balanced scoring saw seven different Red Raiders score at least one basket and five make at least two.

The second half saw Donnie Freeman kick start Syracuse’s offense, making two free throws then cashing in on an and-one off an offensive rebound and make. But, it was Texas Tech’s outside shooting that provide a spark after the Raiders shot poorly in their last game. Consecutive threes in 30 seconds for McMillan put Texas Tech up 44-38, forcing Adrian Autry to call timeout.

From here, Texas Tech started to pull away after making five straight shots and Syracuse’s offense started to go cold. The Raiders outscored the Orange 24-13 in the first 10 minutes of the second half to take as much as an 11-point lead (55-44), their largest of the game so far.

Syracuse didn’t completely go away without putting up another fight as time in the second half starting to wind down. After going down as much as 12 points, Syracuse trimmed its deficit down to five points with around three minutes remaining, going with a lineup of Elijah Moore and Majstorovic paired next to Starling, Bell and Eddie Lampkin to end the game.

Again, the Orange were able to get within range but came up just a few plays short. With under two minutes to go and in a key moment in the game, Bell had a chase down block in the paint and found himself wide open from the corner with Syracuse down 69-64 and a chance to cut the lead down to one possession, but the shot came up short and that was the closest the Orange to get in another game that went down to the final buzzer. Syracuse trailed between 5-7 points during the final minutes, but Texas Tech came up big with the free throw game late to skate by with the win.

Syracuse leaves Brooklyn 0-2 with back-to-back losses to tough P4 programs from Texas, each of those defeats coming by five points or less. The Orange return home Wednesday night to face the Cornell Big Red.