A deep hole that Syracuse couldn’t crawl out of
David Gonzales-Imagn Images
2427 miles separate the campuses of Syracuse and Stanford, but the two came together for an 11 p.m. Eastern time men’s basketball showdown on Wednesday night.
Well, at least one of them showed from the very beginning. It took the other a little bit more time.
Stanford (15-6, 7-3 ACC) rode a 25-2 opening run to take down the Syracuse Orange (9-12, 3-7 ACC), 70-61, despite the Orange pushing back to cut the lead to seven late in the first half. It was Syracuse’s first true road game in the state of California since February of 1999 - five and a half years before the author of this article was born - a 93-69 loss to UCLA.
On the very first possession of the game, Stanford star Maxime Raynaud found his way to the top of the key for an open three at the very end of the shot clock, when Jaylen Blakes fed him the ball.
Then, he went into the low post and banged with Eddie Lampkin, scoring with a hook shot.
Syracuse took contested jump shot at the end of the shot clock after contested jump shot at the end of the shot clock during the first few minutes, unable to get clean looks at the rim. As the Orange continued to have empty possessions, Stanford continued to put points on the board. Sellers made it 7-0, and a few minutes later, a Raynaud three-pointer made it 12-0. Sellers went all the way to the basket and scored an and-1 with 13:06 to play in the first half, extending the lead to 17-0.
Finally, 7:35 into the game, Kyle Cuffe went hard to the basket and scored over Raynaud to give the Orange its first points.
But Stanford responded, a three-pointer from Benny Gealer made it 22-2 and forced a Red Autry timeout with 11:24 to play in the opening half. Ryan Agarwal extended the lead to 25-2 with a three of his own before Syracuse finally started to climb back. Jaquan Carlos gave some of his best minutes of the season, turning it up on both ends as the Orange cut the lead to 7 late in the first half. On a night where JJ Starling and Eddie Lampkin struggled - scoring just a combined 7 points in the first half - the Orange got 7 first-half points along with three assists from Carlos.
Raynaud completely dominated the matchup with Lampkin in the first half, refusing to give Syracuse extra possessions. One game after Lampkin grabbed 23 rebounds, Raynaud had 11 rebounds in just the first half against him, as Stanford led 33-24.
Early in the second half, the teams traded baskets, and Petar Majstorovic won a possession back for the Orange with a steal immediately off a Stanford rebound, laying the ball in to cut the Cardinal lead to 41-33. But from there, Stanford went on a run of its own.
Stanford double teamed Lampkin in the low post, who threw a behind the back, no look pass that got intercepted, leading to a lost possession. Then, Evan Stinson hit a jumper to extend the lead to 45-33. A few trips later, Raynaud was doubled, and found a cutting Stinson for a layup, extending the lead to 14 and forcing another Autry timeout.
Like it did against Boston College, Syracuse came out of a second half timeout with a huge basket to keep the game from getting away from it. Chris Bell drained a three from the top of the key, but Raynaud responded near immediately with a three-pointer himself.
Stanford was able to keep the Orange at a nice distance, missed shots from the Orange certainly helped, but SU scored six points in a row to cut the lead to six with 3:33 to play. The last of which was a beautiful drive and finish by Starling, acrobatically avoiding a defender in the lane. Kyle Smith called timeout, and “Let’s Go Orange” chants rang out through Maples Pavilion to try to bring the Orange back.
However, Syracuse turned the ball over when it had the chance to cut the lead down to four or three, and Raynaud scored in the paint to give Stanford the eight-point lead back.
From there, Stanford closed out the game, as Syracuse shot 6-18 from beyond the arc on the evening/early morning. Raynaud finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds to lead the way, while Carlos led the Orange with 16 points and 4 rebounds. Starling was held to 7 points on 3-16 from the field.
Syracuse stays on the West Coast to face Cal on Saturday, looking to avoid falling to 3-8 in the ACC.
