Syracuse hangs on to stun No. 13 Tennessee, marking Vols’ second straight loss

Tennessee’s big win over Houston feels like forever ago.

Syracuse shut down No. 13 Tennessee in the second half on Tuesday night and held on in the final seconds to pick up a huge 62-60 upset win. The victory, part of the ACC-SEC Challenge, is easily the Orange’s biggest of the season. It also snapped a three-game losing skid, and marked the program’s first win over Tennessee since Nov. 28, 1993.

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Naturally, that sparked a huge court storm at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Tennessee struggled to pull away from Syracuse throughout the first half, and the Orange actually tipped-in a bucket right before the buzzer to take a two-point lead into the break. But finally, Syracuse completely shut the Vols down late in the second half to take control of the game.

The Orange held Tennessee without a made field goal for more than four full minutes down the stretch, which eventually set up a four-point lead with just two minutes left in the contest. But Jaylen Carey and Bishop Boswell broke that dry spell and each hit a quick bucket to tie the game back up with just 31 seconds left. Eventually, it was William Kyle who hit a single free throw to put Syracuse back in the lead, which set up one final shot for the Vols.

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Ja’Kobi Gillespie caught an inbounds pass in the corner with just nine seconds left and drove to the rim before throwing it into Carey, who had a good look at the rim from the middle of the lane. But his jumper was just off the mark and was quickly rebounded by the Orange, who held on and sealed their two-point win after tacking on another free throw.

Nate Kingz led the way with 19 points and seven rebounds, and J.J. Starling added 12 points. The Orange shot just 5-of-19 from the 3-point line as a group, though they limited Tennessee to just four made buckets from behind the arc to make up for it.

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Syracuse now sits at 5-3 on the season. The win came at a great time, too. The Orange struggled at the Players Era Festival last week. They all three…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mens-college-basketball/breaking-news/article/syracuse-hangs-on-to-stun-no-13-tennessee-marking-vols-second-straight-loss-022750843.html

Author : Ryan Young

Publish date : 2025-12-03 02:27:00

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