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Following Syracuse’s win over UAlbany, head coach Adrian Autry said he was disappointed in how his team played down the stretch. SU led by 11 at halftime and stretched it to as many as 24 points in the second half. But the Great Danes cut their deficit back to 11 in the final two minutes.

While the Orange prevailed in crunch time, Autry used the poor stretch of play as an example in the locker room postgame. Forward Chris Bell said the second-year head coach brought up Syracuse’s game against Tennessee last Monday.

SU only trailed by 10 at halftime, but the Volunteers quickly extended their lead to over 20 in the second half. From there, they put the Orange away. Autry asked his team whether Tennessee slowed down once it bolstered its lead. The answer was no.

“We had them down by 20, and we’re supposed to punch them in the mouth,” Bell said postgame.

Still, Syracuse (5-4, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeated UAlbany (6-5, 0-0 America East) 102-85 following back-to-back embarrassing road losses to Tennessee and Notre Dame. The Orange held a double-digit halftime lead for the second time this season, though they couldn’t hold onto an over 20-point second-half advantage. It’s SU’s first win since leading scoring J.J. Starling was ruled out indefinitely with a broken left hand.

To notch its largest win of the season, SU was anchored by Donnie Freeman down the stretch. Though the freshman played just 23 minutes off the bench because of an illness, he poured in a career-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting while making all four of his 3s.

“Whatever he has, he needs to keep that, if he can keep playing like, whatever he was feeling,” Autry joked about Freeman’s illness.

As the Great Danes nearly cut their deficit to single digits in the waning minutes, Freeman scored the Orange’s next eight points — one dunk sandwiched between two triples — to extend their lead to 90-75 with three minutes remaining.

While UAlbany responded by cutting its deficit to 93-82 with under two minutes left, Bell and point guard Jaquan Carlos sealed the win. Bell finished with 18 points despite not making a 3 while Carlos produced his best game since transferring from Hofstra, registering 12 points and 12 assists.

Though the Orange built their lead up to 24 points midway through the second half, they didn’t start the game strong — something that’s plagued them all year. However, a 6-0 run out of the under-12 timeout gave them a 20-14 lead and forced UAlbany to call a timeout.

Then reserve guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. gave SU a huge lift. The junior played sparingly across Syracuse’s first six games but has seen his minutes increase in Starling’s absence. Cuffe got the Orange going from distance, nailing two corner 3s as part of his season-high 10 points.

SU went 0-for-9 from distance in its loss on Saturday against Notre Dame, the first time it didn’t make a triple in over a decade. Tuesday, the Orange were 6-for-15 beyond the arc.

“Our team hasn’t made 3s yet. And I thought today that was a difference, being able to at least get six of them,” Autry said.

Cuffe’s second 3 gave SU a 32-19 lead just under eight minutes before halftime. From there, Syracuse maintained its double-digit lead heading into the break. Though the Orange didn’t dominate to start the second half, they steadily saw their lead increase.

Back-to-back inside scores from Jyáre Davis, who started in Freeman’s place and scored 15 points after pouring in 20 against Notre Dame, lifted SU’s advantage to 53-38 three minutes into the second half. Before the under-16 timeout, close makes from Eddie Lampkin Jr. and Carlos gave SU a 57-40 lead — its largest of the season.

After the timeout, SU got out to a 20-plus point lead for the first time this year. Freeman, who made 12.5% of his triples entering the contest, canned a right-wing 3 after the Great Danes’ DeMarr Langford Jr. went 1-for-2 at the line.

Following a Byron Joshua — UAlbany’s leading scorer who was held to just five points — miss, Freeman pulled down the rebound and got the Orange in transition. First, he passed the ball to Bell in the corner. Bell quickly gave the ball to a cutting Elijah Moore, who made an extra pass to his fellow freshman Petar Majstorovic for an easy 2. Trailing 62-41 six minutes into the half, UAlbany called a timeout.

Like it has throughout the start of the season, though, SU couldn’t slam the door shut. While Autry opted to switch Syracuse’s defense to a zone and it resulted in missed shots, UAlbany continuously grabbed offensive rebounds and second-chance points. It resulted in the Great Danes scoring 51 second-half points, tied for the most the Orange have allowed this season.

“We shouldn’t have made this a game, but we did,” Autry said.

Postgame, Davis said Syracuse is trying to become one of the best teams in the country. Firsthand, he saw how Tennessee, now the No. 1 team in the country, put the Orange to bed.

While SU wasn’t plagued by the rough stretch en route to its largest win of the season, it needs to finish games stronger going forward to even have a chance of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021.

“When we played one of the best teams in the country and we got down, (Tennessee) didn’t take it easy on us,” Davis said. “They didn’t become lackadaisical, they continued to play the whole time. So we need to make sure that when we get up, we’re doing the same thing.”

Published on December 10, 2024 at 9:14 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon