Syracuse men’s basketball kicked off its 2021-22 season in triumphant fashion. In Tuesday’s 97-63 win over Lafayette, the Orange scored early and often. Junior guard Joe Girard III led the way with a team-leading 20 points. Five SU players finished with double-digit point totals, including new transfer forwards Cole Swider and Jimmy Boeheim. Over 19,000 fans were on hand for the game in the Dome’s first game with full fan capacity since February 29th, 2020.
After an easier opening test in Lafayette, Syracuse now turns its attention to Drexel. The Dragons started their season 1-0 by demolishing Division III Neumann University 103-74 on Tuesday night. Graduate forward James Butler led the way for Drexel, scoring a team-leading 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting. In all, the Dragons shot 55.6% as a team from the field and notched their first 100-point game since November 2018.
A hot-shooting Drexel squad may present a stiffer challenge for Syracuse than Lafayette did. Though SU’s offensive prowess stole the headlines on Tuesday, head coach Jim Boeheim noted some things to like from his team’s defensive performance.
“Our defense was good. They’re a team [Lafayette] that scores a lot of points and can really shoot,” Boeheim said. “I think it was a really good game in terms of working on our defense and getting our movement down.”
Syracuse will need to play good defense against Drexel. The Dragons qualified for the NCAA tournament last year for the first time since 1996 by winning the Colonial Athletic Association championship. As a 16 seed, the Dragons were overmatched in a first round loss against then-No. 1 seeded Illinois. However, substantial talent from that squad has returned for this season.
Drexel brings back its two leading scorers from last year in the aforementioned Butler and Camren Wynter, a 6’2” 185-pound senior guard who put up 13 points and eight assists in the season opener. To slow Butler and Wynter down, SU needs to rebound like it did against Lafayette. Syracuse out-rebounded the Leopards 48 to 30 on Tuesday night.
ESPN gives the Orange an 87.7% chance to beat the Dragons on Sunday in the first matchup between the two teams since December 22nd, 2010. That year, No. 5 SU cruised past Drexel 93-65 in the Dome to move to 13-0 on the season.
Opening tip for Sunday’s game is at 5:00 PM ET. WAER’s coverage begins at 4:30 PM with Countdown to Tipoff.