Syracuse basketball falters after 2nd-half comeback, drops 1st game of season to Texas (final score, recap)

Syracuse, N.Y. — The Syracuse basketball team takes on the Texas Longhorns at 7 p.m., Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The game will begin on ESPNews and transfer to ESPN2 at the end of the Charleston Classic quarterfinal game.
See in-game team and individual stats here.
Note: Refresh this page throughout Syracuse’s game vs. Texas to see the latest updates
Sign up for more Orange basketball analysis from Donna Ditota in our ‘Posting Up’ newsletter. Try the newsletter for free.
Fans can stream the full 2024-25 Syracuse Orange season on fuboTV. Fans can get cheap tickets to see the Orange from SeatGeek. Fanatics has a full collection of Syracuse Orange gear to shop online.
Missed free throws in the final moments of the game were the costly error that led to Syracuse (3-1) losing its first game of the season to Texas (4-1) after nearly completing a 16-point comeback.
Eddie Lampkin recorded his third game in a row scoring at least 10 points, while JJ Starling followed up his career-high performance against Youngstown State with 16 points against the Longhorns. Chris Bell and Jyare Davis also finished in double figures.
The Orange’s sluggish start led to Syracuse’s largest deficit of the season at halftime. The Longhorn offense, lead by Arthur Kaluma and Tre Johnson, catapulted to an early double-digit lead.
Texas prevented Lampkin from scoring, forcing the Orange to shoot long distance with little success. Kaluma and Johnson combined for 32 points, and the duo ultimately boosted Texas over Syracuse in the final seconds.
The Orange began picking apart the Longhorn defense in the second half, getting Lampkin open in the paint and allowing Starling to move freely in and around the arc. Syracuse strung together a 12-2 run, including Lampkin scoring seven consecutive points, to eliminate Texas’ halftime lead.
Syracuse’s offensive explosion in the second half flustered Texas, leading to technical fouls against Johnson and Lucas Taylor. The Orange weren’t threatened with any foul trouble in the final minutes, but Kaluma fouled out for Texas within the final minute.
The two teams traded leads, mostly between Lampkin and Starling for Syracuse, and Johnson and Kaluma for Texas, but free throws ultimately plagued the Orange from sustaining a lead. Syracuse finished the game shooting 50% from the free-throw line, while Texas picked up 12 points from the line.
Syracuse plays its second game inside Barclays Center on Friday at 7 p.m., against either Texas Tech or Saint Joseph’s.
:15 remaining: Syracuse 65, Texas 68
Syracuse turns the ball over across the baseline to give Texas the ball back with 42 seconds remaining.
Johnson is sent to the free throw line after he’s fouled by Starling. Johnson makes both free throw.
Starling scores another jump shot to make it a one possession game. The Orange call their final timeout of the game.
1:00 remaining: Syracuse 63, Texas 66
Davis draws a personal foul on Kaluma, his fourth of the game, and makes both free throws.
Starling sinks a jump shot to make it a one-point game again, and is called for a personal foul. Johnson makes both three throws.
Texas calls a 30 second timeout.
2:10 remaining: Syracuse 61, Texas 64
Syracuse and Texas trade one-point leads, with Starling scoring a layup and Weaver sinking a second-chance layup.
The Longhorns extend their lead to three points when Pope makes a pull-up jump shot.
Syracuse elects to use its third timeout.
3:23 remaining: Syracuse 59, Texas 60
Starling makes it a two-point game, then ties it 30 seconds later. Starling leads Syracuse’s offense with 12 points, shooting 5-for-12 from the field.
Lucas Tayler and Texas’ Tre Johnson are both issued a double technical foul after pushing each other after a whistle.
Davis is called for his third personal foul of the game and Kaluma makes both free throws. Lampkin ties the game again with a layup 20 seconds later.
Lampkin draws a foul against Weaver, making one of two free throws to give Syracuse its first lead of the game.
Texas regains the lead with a jump shot by Johnson, who now has 10 points.
7:49 remaining: Syracuse 52, Texas 56
Lampkin makes it a one-point game with a short jump shot, scoring his 11th point of the game.
Chris Bell blocks a layup by Chendall Weaver to keep it a one-point game. Kaluma scores a layup to make it three-point Texas lead.
Davis draws a foul against Kaluma along the baseline, but misses both free throws.
Bell blocks a second layup, and Davis draws another foul on Kaluma. Davis scores one of two free throws.
Weaver scores on a jump shot to give Texas a two possession lead, and Syracuse calls a timeout.
10:59 remaining: Syracuse 49, Texas 52
Texas ends its scoring drought with a dunk by Kadin Shedrick.
Syracuse goes on a 12-2 run to make it a three-point game with over 12 minutes to play.
The Orange hold the Longhorns scoreless again for another 2:15, with Texas shooting 1-for-7.
13:36 remaining: Syracuse 44, Texas 50
Both teams couldn’t score for two and a half minutes, until Lampkin scores back-to-back layups.
The Orange make the game a two-possession game after Lampkin dunks the ball for his ninth point of the game.
Texas’ scoring drought extends into three minutes, and Syracuse goes on a 7-0 run in 56 seconds to make it a six-point game. Lampkin scored all seven of the Orange’s points.
Syracuse has forced four turnovers during Texas’ three minute scoring drought.
The Orange make the game a two-possession game and Texas calls a timeout.
15:58 remaining: Syracuse 37, Texas 50
Texas begins the second half forcing back-to-back turnovers and expanding its lead to 15 points.
Texas’ Jordan Pope is called for his third personal foul, and is substituted out.
Jaquan Carlos and Chris Bell respond to the turnovers with consecutive shots, Carlos scoring a field goal and Bell sinking his first triple of the game.
Kaluma scores four points to lead all scorers with 14 points.
After Texas started the game with a 9-0 run, Syracuse trails Texas by 11 at halftime.
The Orange’s slow start caused them to give Texas to establish breathing room. Syracuse was forced to call a timeout within the first three minutes. Syracuse struggled to get a shot off from mid-range, forcing it to shoot from the three-point line with little success.
The Orange finished the first half shooting 3-for-12 from the three-point line, and Donnie Freeman scored the final triple with six seconds remaining in the first half.
Syracuse closed the gap to eight points after Texas was held without a field goal for over two minutes. The Longhorns, led by Arthur Kaluma and Tre Johnson, brought the game back to a double-digit lead — where the score remained through the rest of the half.
Texas finished the first half shooting 61% from the field, even though the Longhorns had three scoring droughts spanning over two minutes.
Despite the early struggles, Syracuse has avoided any early foul trouble through 20 minutes. Only two players have two personal fouls, and six haven’t been called for a foul at all. However, the Orange are still struggling from the free throw line, shooting just 3-for-7 compared to Texas’ 4-for-6.
Texas is out-rebounding Syracuse, 17-13.
3:47 remaining: Syracuse 21, Texas 35
Texas’ Ze’rik Onyema is called for a personal foul, his second of the game.
The Orange closed the game to eight points before Texas returned to a double-digit lead with three-straight made field goals.
Syracuse has only made two triples against the Longhorns, and are shooting 36% from the field. Texas is shooting 58% from the field with three made three-pointers.
7:23 remaining: Syracuse 14, Texas 27
Texas was held in a scoring drought for over two minutes, allowing Syracuse to briefly try and close the double-digit deficit.
Jyare Davis scored his first points of the game from the field, quickly tying Starling to lead the Orange’s offense with six points.
10:29 remaining: Syracuse 10, Texas 22
Eddie Lampkin gets his first points of the game deep in the paint, and picks up the and-one.
Chris Bell scored his first point of the game from the free throw line, making one of two shots.
Texas’ Arthur Kaluma and Tramon Mark both lead all scorers with six points.
15:35 remaining: Syracuse 3, Texas 9
J.J. Starling scores Syracuse’s first points of the game over four minutes into the contest.
The Orange are shooting just 17% from the field. Texas hasn’t scored in the last two minutes.
17:35 remaining: Syracuse 0, Texas 9
Texas takes a 9-0 lead to start the game, forcing a quick turnover. Syracuse starts the game 0-for-3 from the field and has only shot from the three-point line.
The Orange use a 30 second time out.
A battle in orange takes place in New York City on Thursday night.
Syracuse basketball (3-0) is playing its first road game of the season, taking on new SEC member Texas (3-1) on neutral court in the Barclays Center.
It’s the first time the Orange and Longhorns have met since Syracuse’s national championship run in 2003, where the two faced off in the Final Four. It’s only the second time in program history these two take the court together.
Syracuse’s nail-biting 3-0 start was capped off by a 104-95 double overtime win over Youngstown State on Nov. 16. Each of the Orange’s three games this season have all been single-digit wins.
J.J. Starling scored 38 points during Syracuse’s win over Youngstown State, with 31 of his points coming in the second half and both overtime frames. It was the most points scored by an Orange since February 2022, when Cole Swider scored 38 points against North Carolina.
The Orange have relied on Colorado transfer Eddie Lampkin in the paint, with the graduate scoring at least 10 points in all three games. Lampkin and Donnie Freeman have recorded double-doubles in back-to-back games.
Texas has won its last three games after dropping its season opener against Ohio State, 80-72. The Longhorns won all three of those games by at least 31 points.
Texas was ranked in the AP preseason poll at No. 19 to start the year, but dropped out after its loss to the Buckeyes and hasn’t made a return. It received 17 votes in this week’s poll.
A player to watch versus the Orange: guard Tre Johnson.
Johnson is averaging 23.5 points per game, leading Texas’ offense as a freshman. He’s scored at least 18 points in all four games this year. Limiting this new guard’s options should be a key aspect of Syracuse’s defense, particularly by eliminating Texas’ mid-range shots and fast breaks.