Syracuse men’s basketball: three takeaways from the win over Le Moyne

The 24-24 Syracuse Orange men’s basketball season got off to a rocky start against the Le Moyne Dolphins. The Orange trailed for most of the game, but did enough down the stretch to secure the 86-82 win. Here are three things we noticed about the game:

Jy’are Davis Delivers

The Delaware transfer played a lot at the 5 last night and his first-half effort kept the Orange in contact with Le Moyne. He used his size and strength to get inside the paint and his rebounding was outstanding. Davis finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes.

Davis had five offensive rebounds and showed he could play both the 4 and the 5 for Syracuse this season. Both he and Donnie Freeman (10 and 11) securing double-doubles was a good sign for this team’s ability to rebound.

Davis doesn’t have to be a big scorer for this team, but if he does what he did last night in terms of getting on the glass and using his size inside he’ll play a key role.

Clear the Lane

Syracuse has a lot of work to do defensively. We knew that would be the case, but this team didn’t communicate well at all on that end. Le Moyne was able to use spacing and screens to isolate defenders at the top of the key and time and time again waltzed to the rim unopposed. The Dolphins were 18-29 inside the paint against the Orange and that doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season. There was no help and if the approach is not to leave open shooters, then the individual defense has to be a lot tougher.

Red’s Rotation

Adrian Autry said last week that he was trying to figure out line-up combinations. but his second-half substitutions were puzzling. Petar Majstorovic gave some good energy minutes in the first half grabbing four offensive boards in five minutes, but he didn’t see the floor in the second half. Le Moyne went to a zone in the second half and dared the Orange to shoot them out of it, yet Choppa Moore sat on the bench and watched Lucas Taylor go 0-3 from beyond the arc. Naheem McLeod didn’t play and Kyle Cuffe saw the floor for the final seconds of the first half.

It’s still early, but in a game where the Orange needed some defensive energy and shooting, Autry shortened his bench and didn’t try to pressure an under-manned squad. I know he went with his veterans to get the win, but the second half substitutions were puzzling.

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Other than impending doom, what were your takeaways?