Darien Williams stood at midcourt with both fists raised above his head as St. John’s took a 24-point lead. Boos rained down from the Carrier Dome stands and fans headed to the exits. Moments later, Frank Howard drove through an open lane to the basket, cocked his arm back and readied to deliver a one-handed dunk.

But Howard missed, just like the rest of the night had gone for Syracuse. The ball clanked off the back of the rim and flew toward the 3-point arc. The Orange was in disarray.

SU allowed 32 points off 19 turnovers and allowed a dozen 3-pointers. The 33-point blowout loss was Syracuse’s worst-ever home loss under head coach Jim Boeheim. The Orange had never lost five nonconference games in a season before this year.

Syracuse dropped to 7-5 with a 93-60 thumping at the hands of the Red Storm (6-7). SU previously lost to fellow former Big East foes Connecticut and Georgetown, but both of those games were competitive.

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MORE COVERAGE

• The Final Word: Beat writers discuss Syracuse’s big loss, 93-60, to St. John’s
• What we learned from Syracuse’s 93-60 loss to St. John’s
• Andrew White scores 2 points, has season-worst performance in blowout loss to St. John’s
• Superlatives from Syracuse’s 93-60 blowout loss to St. John’s

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“Our problem tonight,” Andrew White said, “was beyond the coaching or the game strategy.”

“This game is all on me,” Boeheim said. “I didn’t get them ready to do what we needed to do. We just didn’t execute on defense or offense. St. John’s did. That was the game.”

On the first possession of the game, John Gillon missed a 3 and Kassoum Yakwe pushed Dajuan Coleman out of position to get the rebound. Boeheim immediately turned toward the SU bench and pointed at Taurean Thompson to sub in for the fifth-year center.

Three minutes later, Tyler Lydon drove inside and attempted a pass under the basket. It got tipped away and Shamorie Ponds snatched the ball. Both Boeheim and Lydon put their hands on their head. Frank Howard fouled Ponds as the Red Storm began to push the ball in transition.

That was Howard’s second foul, forcing him to sub out. As he walked toward the bench for the media timeout, he yelled, “f*ck me!” at himself.

After a Malik Ellison 3-pointer on Andrew White’s side and directly in front of the SU bench, Boeheim yelled “No!” and pointed to the spots White should have been as the fifth-year senior backpedaled down the court. When Ellison hit another triple 27 seconds later, this time from the top of the arc and where freshman guard Tyus Battle should have been, Boeheim yelled, “Tyus!”

“I’ve got to get them to do what we want them to do,” Boeheim said. “… If they don’t do it, it’s my fault.”

Boeheim said by this point in the season, 12 games in, his defense should have progressed to be better than it is. But based on the way the Orange has been playing — Syracuse had lost its fourth nonconference game in a season on Saturday for the second time in 35 years — Wednesday’s beat down was expected, he said.

St. John’s went on a 12-0 run to break the game open after it was tied at 14. All 12 points came via 3-pointers and nine were off turnovers. After SU fell behind 20-14, Boeheim called timeout. Taurean Thompson traveled on the ensuing offensive possession.

While trying to inbound the ball a minute and a half later, Howard called timeout to avoid a 5-second violation. After the timeout, he stepped on the baseline before passing the ball in, causing another turnover.

“When you give any team a rhythm, they’re hard to stop.” Howard said. “Any team, I don’t care who it is, what level. Any team.”

St. John’s entered the game ranked as the 136th best team in the country, according to Kenpom.com. The Red Storm had lost to LIU Brooklyn and Delaware State, two of the worst teams in the nation.

Last year, SJU hit 12 3-pointers against Syracuse and beat the Orange, 84-72. This year, Boeheim tweaked his defense and told his players to lock down on the high-post area. Once the ball gets there, the defense collapses and opponents can pass to the perimeter with ease.

“Once it got in there, that’s where we got hurt,” Boeheim said.

After the game, Howard said Syracuse needs to refer back to last season. The Orange lost three nonconference games and struggled throughout parts of the year before getting hot during the NCAA Tournament and reaching the Final Four.

But that team never fell to a point this low.

Fifth-year senior Dajuan Coleman said he couldn’t remember a time SU struggled this much. Howard said it’s time to do some soul-searching.

The Orange has one more nonconference game, against Cornell, before entering Atlantic Coast Conference play. With six ranked teams in the ACC and three receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25, it provides an opportunity for SU to play its way back into Tournament contention. But Syracuse needs change for that to happen.

“The way we’re playing right now,” Boeheim said, “we can’t win many of those games.”

Published on December 21, 2016 at 11:37 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds