Las Vegas ― The Syracuse Orange’s trip to Las Vegas ended the way it does for many visitors here.
The Orange left tired, disappointed and winless after three days at the Players Era Festival following a 95-64 defeat to No. 15 Iowa State on Wednesday.
Syracuse was playing a third straight game against a team rated among KenPom’s Top 20.
In Houston, Kansas and Iowa State, Syracuse was also facing three of the top defensive teams in the country.
Syracuse acquitted itself quite well through two-and-a-half games. The Orange battled No. 3 Houston and had a chance to win in regulation before losing 78-74 in overtime.
In terms of scheduling games that might boost its NCAA Tournament resume, Syracuse had put nearly all of its chips on the Players Era Festival.
Next week’s game against No. 17 Tennessee is the only other game on SU’s non-conference schedule that will fall into the NCAA’s Quad 1.
SU’s other nine non-conference games will likely be Quad 4 games.
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Players Era Festival Day 3: Syracuse vs Iowa State
Syracuse, which played all three games here in Vegas without leading scorer Donnie Freeman, showed some grit and toughness in those losses to Houston and Kansas but finally buckled under Iowa State’s harassing defense and efficient offensive attack.
The Orange trailed Iowa State 35-34 at halftime, but the Cyclones made their first eight shots of the second half to fuel a 20-to-5 run that ended the Orange’s hopes of pulling off at least one upset win in Las Vegas.
The two teams merely played out the final minutes of the game. Iowa State easily ran up the score on an exhausted and downcast Syracuse squad.
Milan Momcilovic led Iowa State with 24 points. He hit six 3-pointers. Iowa State’s Killyan Toure, a 6-3 freshman from France, scored 12 points in the first half to lead the Cyclones. He finished with 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
Syracuse freshman Sadiq White finished with 12 points to lead the Orange.
Iowa State, which ranks third in the country in turnover percentage, forced Syracuse into a season-high 19 turnovers.
It’s tough to beat the odds in Vegas.
Syracuse stayed with Iowa State for the first 20 minutes of Wednesday’s game.
Syracuse withstood a 12-0 Iowa State run midway through the first half and closed to within one point by the break.
The Cyclones led 28-18 after delivering a huge body blow against the Orange. Syracuse got back into contention with a trio of 3-pointers from Naithan George, Nate Kingz and Tyler Betsey.
For the half, Syracuse shot 8-for-19 from 3-point range.
Then came Iowa State’s big run to start the second half.
On Tuesday, Syracuse had trailed Kansas 52-50 with six minutes remaining. The Jayhawks opened up a lead with an 11-0 run that led to a 71-60 victory.
There would be no rallying on Wednesday.
Syracuse managed just 30 points in the second half. The Orange missed all nine of its shots from 3-point range after halftime.
Iowa State (7-0) had narrowly missed out on competing in the Players Era Festival’s third-place game, which would have come with an extra guaranteed payout.
Instead, the Cyclones, who beat St. John’s and Creighton in the event’s first two rounds, wound up facing Syracuse in the first game of the day on Wednesday after tournament organizers scrapped their original seeding criteria and put the 0-2 Orange up against the 2-0 Cyclones.
In the final minutes of Wednesday’s game, an Iowa State fan bellowed, “Did we win by enough points?” It was an obvious shot at the tournament’s flawed system for determining teams that played in the championship and third-place games.
