LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Syracuse rode a five-game winning streak into the KFC Yum! Center on Wednesday, but couldn’t become the second team to beat Louisville at home this season.

The No. 18 Cardinals (20-6, 9-4 Atlantic Coast) were simply too big and too balanced for the Orange (18-9, 8-6), and coasted to a 72-58 win. That snapped a five-game winning streak for SU, which is now 8-3 since Jim Boeheim’s return from a nine-game suspension in early January.

Here’s what we learned about Syracuse in its first loss since Jan. 24.

1. Syracuse’s frontcourt is not in the clear

Louisville scored 50 points in the paint, 34 of them coming in the second half, and out-rebounded Syracuse 41-30 after the teams were nearly even in that category after the first 20 minutes.

And while the Cardinals’ size and talent could make it reasonable to view these results in a vacuum, they’ve also lost two rotational big men — 7-foot center Anas Mahmoud and 6-foot-10 forward Mangok Mathiang— to season-ending injuries.

SU head coach Jim Boeheim said it was the first time in 10 games that his team was that bad on the defensive glass, and that led to Syracuse’s biggest loss of the season.

“But I think in the last 10 games this is the first game we really didn’t do anything in the second half, we didn’t do anything on the boards, and I think that was a big part of it,” Boeheim said. “… I thought again, we got beat on the boards pretty badly and that was the big difference in the second half.”

On the defensive end, Cardinals center Chinanu Onuaku lit up the Orange for 13 points and 15 rebounds (seven offensive). Matz Stockman, a 7-footer off Louisville’s bench, chipped in six points in 10 minutes. On the other end, Dajuan Coleman, Tyler Lydon and Tyler Roberson combined for a meek 15 points while shooting 6-of-15 from the field.

“That’s for the coaches to decide,” Michael Gbinije said of whether the frontcourt needs to be more involved in the offense. “We all could have played better tonight.”

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MORE COVERAGE:

• Syracuse gets dominated down low in 72-58 loss to No. 18 Louisville
• Gallery: Syracuse drops matchup with Louisville, 72-58
• Watch Jim Boeheim’s press conference after Syracuse falls to No. 18 Louisville

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2. Michael Gbinije is human after all

With 13 points on Wednesday, Gbinije remains the only ACC player to have scored in double-figures in all of his team’s games this season. He also finished with seven rebounds, tied for a team-high, and five assists.

But a string of uncharacteristic mistakes stood out in an otherwise solid performance for the SU point guard, who appeared bothered by Louisville’s pressure at times and rushed his shot when granted slivers of space.

Gbinije missed three layups with varying degrees of “openness”, one of which was completely uncontested and came when Syracuse was trying to claw back in it in the second half. He also threw an errant pass way over the head of Roberson at the start of the second, which energized the home crowd coming out of the halftime break.

“Mike didn’t play as well as he’s been playing,” Boeheim said, on a rare occasion that he pinpointed a pair of Gbinije mistakes after a game.

 

Luke Rafferty | Staff Photographer

 

3. Frank Howard isn’t just a stopgap guard

With solid court vision and a calm approach to playing point guard, Howard is making himself a regular part of Syracuse’s rotation in recent games.

The freshman played a season-high 23 minutes in the loss to the Cardinals, and his services were needed against a Louisville team that likes to full-court press guards. Howard finished with six assists, tying a season- and career-high, and Boeheim was encouraged by his performance before adding that he has improvements to make on defense and in creating scoring opportunities for himself.

“It definitely helped me learn a lot playing against guards who picked up 94 feet,” Howard said of the Louisville game. “It definitely helped me learn how to protect the ball, and going forward I can definitely use this game as something to refer back to as how to beat the press.”

Published on February 17, 2016 at 10:56 pm