Syracuse needed all it could get from Delaware transfer Jyare Davis on opening night.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team stumbled out of the gate on opening night, nearly suffering a historic defeat to the Le Moyne Dolphins. Luckily for the Orange, Jyare Davis was there to get Syracuse back on track, leading his team to an 86-82 win in the season-opener.
Davis recorded a double-double in his first game as an Orange player. The Delaware transfer finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end. He was an efficient 7-9 from the floor and 8-11 from the free throw line.
“Without Jyare Davis we don’t win this game. It’s simple,” Adrian Autry said post-game.
As the first man off the bench Davis came in and provided a lift on both ends of the floor. His physicality against a slender Le Moyne team proved difficult for the Dolphins to handle inside. The 6-foot-7, 220 pound forward presented himself as a matchup problem in the paint.
“I’m just trying to be relentless honestly. Every single shot, just try to clear guys out and get the rebound and really just play hard every single game,” Davis said. “I don’t know how many minutes I’m going to play — maybe a lot, maybe a little — but I want to make sure when I go to sleep at night that I can look back and be like, ‘Hey, that time I was in I played really hard.’”
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So much of the struggle for Syracuse on Monday night was on the defensive end, where the Orange had difficulty keeping their man in front and forcing them to change direction. Syracuse often overextended on closeouts and was caught on its heels. Le Moyne shot 49.1 percent from the floor on the game and 36 percent from three.
“We just have to be better defensively,” Davis said. “It has to be more important to us. We have to continue to just do the thing that coach talks to us about — being tough, getting in a stance and continue to fight every single time.”
For Davis, his impact extended beyond just scoring and rebounding. He provided interior resistance on the defensive end. He also dished out a pair of assists, the first to a cutting Petar Majstorovic which resulted in an and-one. Later, when Le Moyne head coach Nate Champion ironically went 2-3 zone against Syracuse, Autry went to a 1-4 set late in the game that had success. He had both Eddie Lampkin and Davis operating in the high-post.
At one juncture when the ball entered the high-post into Davis, he deftly bounced the ball to a diving Lampkin inside for a score to put Syracuse up seven with just four minutes remaining. Davis feels comfortable as the high-post player, operating as both a scoring and passing threat. He spoke about reading the defense, specifically out of Syracuse’s 1-4 set against Le Moyne’s 2-3 zone, and being able to see plays before they develop.
“I talked to Coach B [Brendan Straughn] about that. I definitely know the reads from the mid-post. I know you hit the opposite side and I can always throw a bounce pass to Eddie,” Davis said.
Autry didn’t have Davis in the starting five, but he elected to go with the fifth-year senior in crunch time to close out the game. His Syracuse teammates weren’t surprised to see Davis play the way he did, with Hofstra transfer Jaquan Carlos noting he’s seen Davis with similar play before when the two competed in the CAA.
Syracuse experienced peril in its season-opener, nearly ending the season’s hopes before it began. Ultimately, the presence and play of Davis proved to be a difference-maker as Syracuse was able to get out of Dodge.
“That’s the Jyare we’ve been seeing all preseason,” freshman Donnie Freeman said. “We weren’t shocked. We know who he is and we’re expecting a lot out of him.”