NC State was hoping to build off the home win against Wake Forest in order to record its first road or neutral court win of the season.
Instead, what went right against the Demon Deacons on Saturday was nowhere to be found at Syracuse in the first half. NC State continued to be winless away from Raleigh and the Orange shot 58.3 percent from the field for a 74-60 victory.
Syracuse never trailed in the game and improved to 12-16 overall land 6-11 in the ACC. NC State fell to 11-17 overall and 4-13 in the league, putting them in 17th place in the ACC.
NC State was hoping the stellar play of senior forward Dontrez Styles and freshman wing Paul McNeil would carry the Wolfpack. The duo combined for 46 points against Wake Forest. Both players had zero points at halftime, as did senior shooting guard Jayden Taylor.
Styles came alive in the second half and had all 17 of his points. His hot shooting helped whittle down a 19-point lead to eight points with 8:38 left. McNeil went 1 of 4 for two points, and Taylor never did get a point.
Syracuse star junior wing J.J. Starling also did not play well in the first half, going 1 of 5 for two points. He entered the game averaging 18.5 points per game. The odds were in his favor that at some point he’d get going, and it happened.
Starling scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, including five points during a 7-0 run that helped put away the game 64-49 with 5:51 left in the game.
NC State finished with another tough stretch in the final five minutes of the game, getting one Styles three-pointer until senior point guard Mike O’Connell added a three-pointer playing out the game with 17 seconds left. The Orange outscored the Wolfpack 9-6 over the last five minutes, including O’Connell’s three-pointer.
Syracuse was the aggressor from the start, taking a 13-3 lead in the first 5:17, and leading 38-25 at halftime. NC State’s offense struggled the first 20 minutes, shooting 9 of 30 from the field and 2 of 13 from three-point land.
Syracuse also punished NC State’s centers in the paint. Seniors Eddie Lampkin and Raheem McLeod combined to go 5 of 7 from the field for 13 points, nine rebounds and one block in the first half.
Syracuse held a 22-12 advantage for points in the paint in the first half, and finished with a 46-22 advantage, with Lampkin getting 14 points and 15 rebounds, and Jyare Davis added 15 point and seven boards. The duo helped get NCSU senior center Ben Middlebrooks into foul trouble.
NC State is on the road again, playing at 14-14 Georgia Tech at 3 p.m. Saturday on the ACC Network.
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