WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — As a Wake Forest combo guard marched in front of the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum crowd on Wednesday night, waving his arms in the air and urging the crowd to cheer with him, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim remained folded into the bench, his right hand planted firmly on his jaw.

He stared out as his Syracuse (12-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) team, which was unable to overcome a resilient Wake Forest (8-6, 1-1) team despite one last heave from point guard Frank Howard, eventually fell, 73-67. The Demon Deacons were the first squad to out-rebound the Orange this season, and they rode the extra possessions and extra free throws earned at the end of the game to deny a road victory the Orange would’ve liked, because of its history last season, when a 2-7 road mark in ACC play (and 2-8 on the road overall) last season kept it out of the NCAA Tournament despite three upsets of Top 10 teams at home down the stretch. Syracuse needed to take advantage of an early-conference game against one of the league’s lowest-ranked teams on Kenpom.com.

Here are our fast reactions from the game.

Window washers

Midway through the second half, Paschal Chukwu finally jumped in front of a Wake Forest bounce pass into the high post, a spot the Demon Deacons had said they would exploit in the lead-up to Wednesday’s game.

WFU had run much of its offense through that point in the first half, starting hot but cooling off to finish shooting 12-for-26 (46.2 percent). Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning used his most dynamic player, combo guard Bryant Crawford there, and the ball found its way to Crawford again as Chukwu pounced.

Chukwu tipped the jumper. Crawford turned to loft, but the ball quickly found its way back to Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons scooped up an offensive rebound moments later, and that’s where WFU found an advantage that no other team had against the Orange all season. Wake Forest out-rebounded the Orange on the night 38-to-29, including a dozen on the offensive glass.

Time and again, Syracuse couldn’t quite reach a ball on either end and WFU quickly corralled missed shots to jump-start its quick offense. This effort was led by 7-foot-1, 280-pound center Doral Moore, who had nine boards, and those extra possessions denied the Orange from capturing the road win it needs in the early going of conference play.

Bourama back?

For the first time in nearly three weeks, Syracuse freshman center Bourama Sidibe checked in without the Orange needing him in an emergency situation.

This effectively ended the possibility of medically redshirting Sidibe this season because of his troublesome left knee, as Boeheim mentioned after the Eastern Michigan win on Dec. 27. Throughout the process, Boeheim said Sidibe believed he could play, but the coach didn’t feel the same after seeing him on the court. On Wednesday night, however, Sidibe appeared as mobile as he had all season before the game. With a band on his left knee, he jogged around the court, shooting 3-pointers and attempting put-back dunks.

When he hit the court early in the first half — when Chukwu had no fouls — he seemed slightly hesitant and was boxed out for some rebounds. The last time Sidibe had played — excluding the five minutes against St. Bonaventure when Paschal Chukwu’s foul trouble forced him into the game — was for 11 minutes against Georgetown on Dec. 16.

However, it’s unclear if Sidibe really is back, because he played only three minutes and only avoided joining Club Trillion because he snared one defensive rebound.

Frank Howard heats up

With Syracuse seemingly out of hope, down five with 18 seconds to go, Syracuse gave the ball to its point guard, who streaked up court and did what he had done several times before: nailed a 3-pointer. This gave Syracuse its last gasp and extended Howard’s sudden hot-streak from beyond the arc.

Howard, who sank 5-of-7 attempts beyond the arc on Wednesday, had hit 11-for-21 entering the game since missing all five attempts at Georgetown. When star guard Tyus Battle left the game with four fouls and more than 11 minutes remaining the second half, it left Howard with Matthew Moyer and Paschal Chukwu, who struggle to create their own offense, Howard Washington, a freshman, and Oshae Brissett, who favors the drive. Howard kept Syracuse’s offense afloat with his shooting, but ultimately his last 3-pointer clanged long and left off the rim and fell away, handing Syracuse its first conference loss of the season.

Published on January 3, 2018 at 9:16 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR