Now it’s ACC time
The Syracuse Orange gave us some different looks against the Bucknell Bison on Saturday in the 75-63 win. Let’s get to the takeaways:
Finally some 3’s go down…for a half anyway
The Orange have been miserable from beyond the arc all season and yesterday they hit six first-half 3’s, but not from the players you’d expect. Lucas Taylor led the way with three first half 3’s and combined with Donnie Freeman’s 2 and a make from Petar Majstorovic gave us hope that maybe the team would break out of the their slump. Unfortunately the Orange followed that up with a 1-11 second half performance from 3, and the team really needs Chris Bell and Elijah Moore to start making some as they head back into ACC play.
Pressure defense helps Orange get some offense
I’ve been begging Adrian Autry for over a year to use some pressure defense to force opponents out of their rhythm. Yesterday Syracuse used pressure on a weaker ball-handling team to force 17 turnovers, which led to 19 Orange points. Without JJ Starling, Syracuse struggles in half-court offense so looking for opportunities to get easier looks is going to help this team.
This defense allowed Autry to get more minutes from Taylor and Kyle Cuffe as both players can be more effective using their athleticism in transition situations. It’s not going to be a tactic that the Orange can use for full games against every opponent, but it helps take some of the burden off the poor half-court defense we’ve seen this year.
Rich Barnes-Imagn Images
Empty possessions
The Orange committed 21 turnovers against the Bison and a lot of those were simply careless or unforced errors. We expected some sloppy play after the Holiday break, but Bucknell kept getting back into the game because the Orange simply squandered opportunities.
In addition to the turnovers, the Orange were just 14-23 from the foul line in this one. Syracuse isn’t talented enough to keep giving away points so starting on Tuesday, we’ve got to see some improvements in these areas. Taking care of the basketball and making free throws will be a big key for Autry’s squad if they want to get some ACC wins.