Syracuse and Georgia Tech square off tonight with the all-time series deadlocked at 9-9. Adrian Autry previewed the matchup and his own personnel on Monday.
The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team (6-8, 0-3) is back in action as it welcomes the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-7, 2-2) to the JMA Wireless Dome tonight. Syracuse has yet to lose three straight games this season and will attempt to avoid that feat as it faces an invigorated Yellow Jackets team riding a three-game win-streak. The Yellow Jackets will play its first road contest after five straight home games.
Georgia Tech has been without multiple key players this season. Head coach Damon Stoudamire said there’s no timetable on Kowacie Reeves Jr. and Luke O’Brien’s return. Reeves Jr. has had an ankle injury and hasn’t played since Nov. 27 while O’Brien has a toe injury which has kept him out since Dec. 18. Doryan Onwuchekwa is still away from the team.
“He’s still out for family things,” Stoudamire said.
Adrian Autry mentioned Georgia Tech getting Javian McCollum back is a big reason for the team’s three-game winning streak. He put up 20 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in the win over Boston College and had 21 points, 6 assists and 3 steals in the previous game against Notre Dame.
“It seems like they’ve had some injuries and now everyone is kind of coming back, at least some of the key guys. … Baye Ndongo is one of the better big men that people don’t talk about in the country, a versatile guy that can pass, rim protect, run and their guards are really good. They put you in a lot of ball screens, they’ve got great spacing and their guards are high level guards that can make plays,” Autry said.
More from Syracuse’s head coach below:
On Syracuse’s recent turnover troubles:
Autry stated that the turnover issues have been addressed with the team.
“We didn’t have those for a while and we’ve had those come up the last four games. Some of those were from our big guys, our front court, going through double teams and trying to make cross-court passes. Those are tough. We’ve got to do a better job of reading better and getting the ball in the right hands — the right people’s hands,” Autry said.
“I think having JJ back and now having multiple ball-handlers should eliminate some of those turnovers,” Autry added.
Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images
On Kyle Cuffe’s increased role:
“You know, I think Kyle… he’s tough. He competes. He’s given us a boost off the bench, a guy that can put pressure on the rim. A guy that is a capable shooter. But defensively when we’ve struggled a lot I think he’s kind of given us a boost of that. So just coming off the bench and giving us energy on both sides of the ball, which we need,” Autry said.
On the biggest head coaching challenges of year two:
“You know I think continuity is a bigger difference. Last year we had guys that were here, so they were all kind of familiar with each other. Some of the challenges I’ve faced this year, kind of, your first team you kind of put together. … Making adjustments. I think that’s the biggest thing, whether it’s personnel, trying to find the right mix of guys having to adjust to the players and the personnel,” Autry said. “Adjust what you envisioned to what you want to do and what was working. That’s probably one of the bigger challenges.”
On Chris Bell breaking out of a slump:
“You know I think it’s good, we need to get him going. Obviously we came up on the short end (against Florida State). But as you move forward as a coach you try to play the season out. Obviously we know that Chris Bell is an important part of our team,” Autry said.
On potentially changing the starters or reinserting Bell back into the starting five:
“For now you just want to keep your players in a good space with someone like him. As of right now I don’t plan on doing anything but you could walk into practice today and something could happen. You just never know. We’ll see what happens,” Autry said.
On Elijah Moore’s downtick in minutes:
“You know I think Elijah, like most freshmen — the adjustments and the longevity of the season — I just think for him to continually improve on the other side of the ball. Now he has to be aggressive and kind of limit some of his turnovers. His ability to shoot the ball is what we need. … For him, it’s continuing to battle on both sides of the ball and taking care of the ball a little bit more,” Autry said.