The Syracuse Orange have an issue. One they won’t have much time to correct. In losing four of their final sixth games — for the seventh straight season — Syracuse led at half in five. Four second-half collapses revealed a problem closing games that they could not mitigate before the season closed on SU at 19-12.
Excluding the Orange’s blowout win over bottom-dwelling Wake Forest, Syracuse built a combined 145-128 lead at halftime — an average of 4.25 points — over Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Clemson. All four qualified as quadrant-one opponents, so it wasn’t chump competition, but Syracuse could not even compete in losing the four second halves by a combined 186-113.