The Syracuse University men's basketball team dropped its fourth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) game on Tuesday night, falling 88-68 against the North Carolina State Wolfpack on the road in Raleigh, N.C.

The loss pushes SU to 12-9 overall and 3-5 inside league play. Barring a very deep run in the ACC tournament, it's looking like the Orange will miss the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight year.

NC State is now 15-6 and 6-2 inside the league.

Here's what you need to know:

After Saturday's loss to Miami, we wrote this: 

Syracuse had five players score in double-figures in this game, and while that balance is great, the stars eventually have to step up and play like stars. It's that simple. Donnie Freeman had 14 points, well below his season average of 19.2 (entering play). JJ Starling, who scored nearly 18 a game for the Orange a season ago, had just eight. This team can't get by by hoping complementary scorers play primary scorer roles. 

Well, on Tuesday - it was the opposite. Freeman had 24 points and Starling had 17, but nobody else on the roster had more than six. The stars do have to step up and carry the load, but they need some help, and they didn't get it on this night.

The Orange have had some games where they've been hot from deep, but by and large, they are not a good three-point shooting team. The group was just 7-of-23 (30 percent) for the night. If you can't consistently extend the floor, life gets so much harder for the offense. The paint gets clogged, driving lanes go away - everything is just harder.

Remember in the early non-conference when the Orange were overwhelming teams with their athleticism and making everything hard for opposing offenses? Where did that go? 

Syracuse allowed a whopping 47 points in the second half alone of this game and they've allowed 80 points or more in four of their last five games, with four losses. At one point, it was 55-51 NC State, and the game ended with a 33-17 run.

While NC State only shot 29 percent from three, they shot 51 percent from the floor. Things were too easy at the rim and in the lane all night for the wolfpack.

Top Syracuse football recruit Calvin Russell III saw his first action of the season on Tuesday, scoring three points in two minutes.

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