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  Article by Dan Tortora

  Four days after the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team was meant to have their Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) home-opener, a game versus the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets that was postponed due to COVID concerns, the Orange tipped off against the Cavaliers of Virginia.

  Here in the Carrier Dome on this New Year's Day dance between two teams donning orange in their garb, Virginia got things started, getting out to a 7-0 run in the first 1:59 of the game.

  The first fied goal and first points of the game for Syracuse came from graduate forward Jimmy Boeheim, who connected from long distance at the 17:30 mark, bringing the score to 7-3 Virginia.

  Including the 7-3 score, the Orange would get within two possession three times early on, but the Cavaliers continued to keep separation.

  Senior forward Cole Swider would get Syracuse within one possession on a three-ball coming at the 13:07 mark, which made it 15-12 Virginia.

  From there, the Cavaliers would stretch out to a 10-point advantage, 23-13, with 7:58 to go in the first half.

  Senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim would launch a three inside five minutes before half and connect with the nylon to cut that deficit in half, brigning the score to 27-22 Virginia.

  With less than four minutes on the game clock before the break, Syracuse was 7-for-22 from the field, with the five of those seven makes coming from beyond the arc, where they were 5-for-14 after the three by Buddy Boeheim that made it 27-22.

  Sophomore forward Kadin Shedrick would take advantage of a wide open paint to dunk it home on back-to-back plays, extending the Cavaliers' lead to 31-24.

  Down by three, Buddy Boeheim would launch a three early in the shot clock and brother, Jimmy, would bail him out, grabbing the offensive rebound over the box-out attempt, and putting the ball in off the glass to make it a one-point game with 53 seconds left in the half. This was the closest Syracuse had been to Virginia since 0-0.

  Jimmy Boeheim went 1-for-2 at the line, missing the second.

  Junior center Jesse Edwards would take over from there, going after the missed attempt, getting possession for the Orange, going to the ball to grab the inbounds pass, dribbling to the paint, and putting up an off-balance shot to tie the game at the half, 33-33.

  With 31 seconds off the clock in the second half, Jimmy Boeheim gave Syracuse their first lead of the game, 35-33, off of his layup at the 19:29 mark.

  That lead would not even last 30 seconds, with senior guard Kihei Clark connecting on his own layup at the 19:05 mark, tying the game at 35 apiece.

  Less than a minute later, Virginia had the lead once again, when junior guard Armaan Franklin saw his three-point attempt be graced by the inside of the nylon net to make it 38-35 Virginia at the 18:24 mark.

  The Boeheims would connect when Buddy fed Jimmy, who finished at the rim with a dunk and a free throw to follow, giving the Orange their second lead of the contest, 47-45, at the 13:27 mark of the second half. That gave both Syracuse leads to the offensive plays of Jimmy Boeheim.

  Shedrick would make his presence known again, tying the game 14 seconds later on his layup, at 47-47.

  Sophomore guard Reece Beekman would give the lead back to the Cavaliers at the 12:50 mark off of his own layup, bringing the game to 49-47 Cavaliers.

  Buddy Boeheim's third deep ball of the game would get the Orange to within one possession, 52-50, at the 11:44 mark.

  A little over two minutes later (9:24 mark), Jimmy Boeheim's layup would tie the game at 52-all.

  Clark responded 21 seconds later, taking the lead back for Virginia at 55-52.

  The Cavaliers would expand their advantage to just shy of double-digits, up nine at 61-52, with 6:29 to go in the contest.

  With a three at the 3:51 mark, Buddy Boeheim got the Orange within one possession, down 65-62, and gave himself at least 22 points in all of the last three outings for the Orange, having gotten to 28 points versus the Brown Bears and 22 versus the Cornell Big Red.

  However, Clark would respond immediately with his own three-ball, moving the Cavaliers back out to a two-possession lead, ahead 68-62.

  Buddy Boeheim would make two free throws out of the break to make it 68-64, and Clark continued his habitual behavior of responding to Syracuse, getting to the rim for a layup to bring the score to 70-64.

  A three by Buddy Boeheim with 1:19 to play, his fifth make from beyond the arc in this match-up (5-for-11), made it a one-possession game, 72-69 Cavaliers.

  Syracuse would miss its last three field-goal attempts, all from beyond the arc, en route to a 74-69 loss to Virginia.

  The loss brings the Orange to 1-1 in the ACC.

  Virginia moves above .500 in the ACC thanks to the victory, at 2-1, after previously defeating the Pittsburgh Panthers at home and losing to the Clemson Tigers in their home.

  The Cavaliers would make more than half of their attempts (30-for-57) in the game (52.6%), connecting on eight more shots than the Orange, with three less attempts than the Orange, who went 22-for-60 (36.7%).

  Half of Virginia's team would end the game in double-figures in scoring, with Clark and Franklin leading the way, each with 17 points, followed by senior forward Jayden Gardner with 15 and Shedrick with 12.

  The Orange were led by Buddy Boeheim, who had 27 points in 40 minutes, and was the only Syracuse player to not come out of the game. He has now scored at least 20 points in seven of the team's 13 games this season.

  Syracuse's only other player in double-digits in scoring was Buddy's brother, Jimmy, with 18 in 38 minutes.

  In a game where the Orange out-rebounded their opponent, 37 to 33 overall and doubled the offensive rebounds of the Cavaliers, 18 to nine, they still found themselves on the losing side of things, with Virginia scoring more points in the paint, 40 to 24, and points off of turnovers, 14 to seven.