The shooting struggles continued for Syracuse, but this time the Orange didn't wait until the final minute for a offensive meltdown.
Against Michigan, it was a pair of turnovers in the last 20 seconds that derailed the team's chance of upsetting the No. 17 Wolverines.
Against St. John's, the game hinged on the last five minutes and 34 seconds, a brutal stretch when the Orange only managed one field goal.
Syracuse (5-3) came up short in the second half and lost, 69-57, to the Red Storm on Saturday in the Carrier Dome, ending a 55-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents and worsening what's already been the least successful early season run in quite a while.
The Orange held a 55-52 lead with five minutes left when the collapse began. Syracuse turned the ball over on two straight series and then scored only once (a Ron Patterson dunk) for the rest of the game. The Red Storm finished the game on a 17-2 run, turning a back-and-forth affair into a lopsided final score.
"We just haven't been good at the end of games, both here and Michigan," Jim Boeheim said. "When you're in close games, at the end of games, you got to be good. But at the end of the day, we had three or four threes when we had the lead or when it was tied and we missed them. And (St. John's) made them."
The three-point shooting was, perhaps, the biggest difference in the game. The Orange shot 3-for-22 (14 percent) from outside, while the Red Storm made a little more than half of their attempts. The dagger came from Phil Greene IV, who scored 18 points and hit a three with 58 second left to take a six point lead.
"We got a lot of good looks and didn't make them and they made nine threes," Boeheim said. "You can't win if you don't make some shots in those situations."
Syracuse's best offensive option was Rakeem Christmas, who had 15 points and 15 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. The Orange also got a boost from Michael Gbinije, who scored 13 points in his first start at Syracuse.
Boeheim replaced Kaleb Joseph in the starting lineup with Gbinije, saying that the freshman needs to learn to be point guard, not a three-point shooter. The switch paid off, to some degree, as Syracuse's turnover total went from 19 against Michigan to just 12 with Gbinije at the helm.
He put the team in a position to win the game with just a few minutes left. He played a complementary role in the 15-5 second half stretch for Syracuse that eliminated St. John's seven point lead. But it was a game of runs and the Orange didn't have the final one.
"I feel like we let another one slip," Gbinije said. "It's definitely frustrating. Good thing we have some more games coming up. We actually have a week of practice so we can turn things around in practice and get it going."
It's been quite a big turnaround in 2014 for the Orange, who went undefeated in last season's non-conference slate. In fact, Syracuse didn't lose its third game until the beginning of March. The last time Syracuse lost three games before the start of conference play was all the way back in the 2007-08 season. That was also the last year Syracuse didn't make the NCAA Tournament.
After the game, Chris McCullough acknowledged Syracuse's struggles, but said it's not time to panic just yet.
"It's a bad start so far but we are only going to get better from there," McCullough said. "We just have to focus.”
And even as his team's problems continue to mount, Boeheim said the algorithm to solving them is a simple one.
"We're either going to make some shots or we're going to lose against good teams," he said. "That's it. It's not that complicated."