Syracuse Upset By Temple At Home For First Loss Of Season

Syracuse was upset at home on Saturday, falling to a scrappy Temple team to suffer its first loss of the year.

The No. 3 Syracuse Orange were playing at Madison Square Garden, a normally friendly confines where the team would go on an annual run in the Big East Tournament. The Orange fell 83-79 in the first Chevrolet Gothan Classic, ESPN noted.

But this time Syracuse was upset by the Atlantic 10 foe Temple, led by a career-high 33 points from Khalif Wyatt, CBS Sports noted.

“I always wanted to play here because all the great players had a chance to play here,” the 6-foot-4 senior said. “This was a chance for us to show everyone that Temple is a real program.”

The upset of Syracuse was a bounce back game for the 9-2 Temple Owls, which was coming of a 10-point home loss to Canisius.

“I don’t think we would have won today without the loss in the last game,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. “Our guys did a great job today. I wish it was worth more than one victory.”

With the upset, Syracuse saw its 52-gam regular season non-conference winning streak broke. It also prevented Orange coach Jim Boeheim from notching his 901st win. He remains two wins behind Bobby Knight for No. 2 all time in NCAA Division I men’s basketball.

The game came down to missed opportunities, he said.

“They made free throws, we didn’t,” Boeheim said of the Syracuse upset. . “You don’t like to say it comes down to that, but when you miss 15 free throws it’s tough to win any game.”