No. 19 Syracuse Falls to Texas A&M in Florida Sunshine Classic
After an impressive performance in Day 1 of the Florida Sunshine Classic, No. 19 Syracuse was defeated 105-84 by Texas A&M on the second day.
Things were looking up for the Syracuse women’s basketball team. In fact, this was probably the only source of happiness in Syracuse athletics with the men struggling so mightily. But in Day 2 of the Florida Sunshine Classic, it was nothing but sunshine for Texas A&M and misery for the SU women. The Orange fell 105-84 to the Aggies.
This was the second trip for Coach Q’s ladies down to Florida this season. They’ll make another one down there in late January when they take on Florida State. But the hope definitely has to be for the third trip to finish better than the first two. Both began with an impressive victory. Both ended with the team getting back on the plane looking to rebound from losses. That’s now three losses in Florida by an average of 16.6 points.
Against Texas A&M, the defense was clearly the root of all the issues. SU surrendered at least 25 points in every quarter and allowed its opponents to shoot a blistering 60 percent from the field. This doesn’t sound like the Syracuse defense we’ve come to know that suffocates opposing offenses and forces an exorbitant amount of turnovers. Texas A&M did a decent job taking care of the ball with just 14 turnovers.
The offense looked as good as it had during the five game win streak that was snapped. Four
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players scored in double figures, including Alexis Peterson, who continues to play at a high level in her senior season. She led all scorers with 34 points on an efficient 14-of-24 shooting. Peterson did all she could to keep her team in the game.
This was the final tune up for Syracuse ahead of conference play set to begin next week down in Louisville. And this sour taste isn’t the one you wanted in your mouth ahead of that tough challenge awaiting. But there’s obviously no need to panic right now. These types of things happen over the course of a season. Coach Q would tell you this team isn’t quite ready yet to make another national title run. But I bet he’d say they will be when it’s all said and done. We’ll just have to wait and see, now won’t we?
