SYRACUSE, NEW YORK---86-57 New Mexico. 93-70 Creighton. 76-56 Clemson. 77-65 Washington State. 86-73 Mississippi State. 

Entering Sunday's matchup with the Syracuse Orange, the Texas Southern Tigers were 0-5 against power conference opponents while not keeping any margin of defeat within 10. Make that 0-6 and no, they did not lose by single-digits.

Starting the contest with a trey from leading scorer Malcolm Riley and a slam dunk by "fab freshman" Derrick Griffin, Texas Southern was able to stay within two possessions of their ACC opposition before knotting the score at 22 with a Jerron Martin triple (4:59). 

Was the college basketball world in for another Texas Southern over Michigan State like-upset? Hold up!

Right after the aforementioned three by Martin, Syracuse scored on three possessions in a row (8 points) to give themselves their biggest lead of the game (30-22). Following a split pair of free throws by the Tigers' Griffin, the Orange's Michael Gbinije took over the Carrier Dome with 7 points in a 50-second span to increase their edge to double-figures (38-27).

Although Texas Southern was able to get another big triple to end the first twenty minutes from Martin (he had three in the 1st half), Jim Boeheim's squad was able to extend their advantage to 17 prior to the 2nd half's 18-minute mark thanks to 7 swift points from Malachi Richardson.

While Jerron Martin did drill three more three-pointers to lead the Tigers' prowl and pull the pack within 12 (61-49), every time Texas Southern had momentum and a bit of swagger, the Orange would draw a foul and nonchalantly add two points at the charity stripe or knock down a much needed jumper. All in all, this afternoon would not be a replication of 371 days ago when Texas Southern went into East Lansing and left the Breslin Center with the W.

A Balanced Scoring Attack

After being outscored by a St. John's squad that was then defeated by Incarnate Word and NJIT (at home), the now 10-3 Syracuse Orange needed one more confidence-building performance before ACC play. Today, they definitely received it! Granted, Texas Southern is not a great defensive team (they entered allowing an average of 81.3 points per game), but the fact Syracuse had seven players producing more than six points and five in double-figures is very impressive. Coach Boeheim will look for the same team performance in their conference opener Wednesday at "The Zoo" against Pittsburgh.

Not Just a Football Player & The Emergence of a Sharpshooter

Two years ago Texas Southern Derrick Griffin was rated the third best wide receiver coming out of high school and had signed with the Miami Hurricanes. Two years later, the five-star athlete is not only the star wide receiver on campus but arguably the best basketball player. After grabbing 11 touchdowns in 10 football games this season, the 6'7" post player has recorded three double-doubles in five games while only being held under 17 points once! Even today, he was just one rebound shy of a double-double as he posted 20 points on a perfect 9 for 9 shooting day and pulled down 9 rebounds. 

In addition to Griffin's great performance Sunday, former Ole Miss freshman Jerron Martin seems to have finally found his groove from beyond the arc. Shooting an "okay" 23.8% from downtown in his first ten games (5 for 21), the 6'0" guard swished six treys (out of ten) against Syracuse. That is one more than his total from the first ten games! 1-10 Texas Southern will finish their 12-game road trip in Waco versus nationally ranked Baylor prior to concluding non-conference play at home against Hampton.