The Orange allowed more than 100 points in a big-time loss against Duke on Monday night.
Losing at home to mid-major Hofstra in December was disheartening.
Losing to a very below average Boston College team that had previously lost to Central Connecticut State was bad.
Monday night was worse.
The Syracuse University men's basketball team suffered its worst loss of the season at Cameron Indoor Stadium, falling 101-64 against the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils.
Yes, Duke is very good. They may have the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft and they may win the national championship. It doesn't matter. A program as proud as Syracuse should not be getting run out of the gym in any game it plays.
But that's exactly what happened. SU looked like it didn't even belong on the same floor.
Here's what you need to know.
William Kyle III played hard
If you're looking for anything positive out of this game, it's this. The senior transfer scored 12 points in 25 minutes and flashed his trademark hustle all over the floor. He was 6-of-8 from the floor and had two blocks. He only had three rebounds and went 0-of-4 at the line, but in a game where SU couldn't do much of anything, he found a way to battle, impressing the ESPN broadcast team of Dave O'Brien and Jay Williams along the way.
Inside the numbers
--The loss drops Syracuse to 15-12 overall and 6-8 inside Atlantic Coast Conference play.
--Aside from Kyle, only Nate Kingz was in double-figures for the Orange, scoring 10.
--Donnie Freeman had nine, as did JJ Starling. Kiyan Anthony had six.
--Syracuse committed 11 turnovers, but they came at inopportune times, including a disastrous stretch at the end of the first half that turned a close game into a 16-point deficit.
--The Orange shot 26-of-63 (41 percent), and they made 10 threes, but the first half performance was really rough from the floor.
--Duke shot 62 percent from the floor and 60 percent (12-of-20) from three. At one point in the second half, the Blue Devils were 18-of-22.
--Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Isaiah Evans had 21 on 8-of-13 shooting.
What else worked well
Syracuse had five blocks. That's about it. Hitting 10 threes for the second straight game was an improvement also.
Needs improvement
More turnovers (11) than assists (10) is a problem. Ball movement has been a problem all year for this team, and when they got good ball movement, they struggled to make open shots, especially early.
Up next
The Orange are back home on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m. ET) against No. 16 North Carolina.
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