Less than two weeks ago, NC State men’s basketball was off to its best start in ACC play in over 30 years and was in the mix at the top of the conference standings. Now, one who didn’t know any better might say the sky is falling after an uninspiring 77-65 loss on the road against Syracuse —- the team’s third-straight setback.

Similar to its previous two losses, the Wolfpack (13-7, 5-4 ACC) dug itself in a hole and attempted a comeback effort, but it was too little, too late to overcome the Orange (14-6, 5-4 ACC) in the JMA Wireless Dome.

The game-deciding stretch came in the final eight minutes of the first half. After the Pack took an 18-15 lead with 8:21 left, the team went cold, failing to hit another shot before halftime. Meanwhile, the Orange, ignited by a 3-point shooting outburst from Chris Bell, closed the half on a 23-4 run. The last seven Syracuse points all came from Judah Mintz, who scored five of his points from the free-throw line.

The Pack only made six shots the entire first half and shot an abysmal 20.7% from the field. Graduate guard DJ Horne was the team’s leading scorer at the break with seven points but shot just 2-7 while the Orange were led by JJ Starling with 14 and Bell with 11.

NC State failed to come out of halftime and put a dent into the Syracuse lead. The Orange continued to pull ahead, going up by as many as 21 in the opening minutes of the second half. Another cold spell doomed the Pack as the team failed to make a shot between the 17-minute mark and the 11-minute mark of the half.

It wasn’t until the final five minutes that NC State looked like it might try to pull together a comeback run, but the closest it got was nine points with 2:12 left. The Pack played better offensively in the second half than it did the first half, outscoring the Orange 43-39, but it just wasn’t enough.

Horne ended up leading the Pack in scoring with 15, while graduate guard Casey Morsell and graduate forward DJ Burns were the only other members of the team to score in double figures with 14 and 10, respectively. Starling scored a game-high 26 for the Orange, while Mintz wasn’t far behind with 20 himself.

While the season is far from over, this has been a concerning stretch for the Pack the past week, which marks the first three-game losing streak the team has had since the 2021-22 season. This once again proves the unpredictability and equilibrium of the ACC this season, which, while it hasn’t gotten the level of national respect it usually does, is incredibly competitive from top to bottom.

At this point in the season, with no quad one victories and a NET ranking in the upper 70s, NC State is not an NCAA Tournament team. However, this year’s team does have the same conference record through nine games as last year’s team, which ended up making the Big Dance.

There’s still plenty of season left, but the Pack has to get out of its funk immediately and find a way to get signature victories, of which there are not many opportunities. The team has an upcoming three-game homestand against Miami, Georgia Tech and Pitt, all of which are must-wins.

The homestand starts against Miami on Tuesday, Jan. 30 in PNC Arena at 9 p.m. with the game being televised on ESPN2.