Syracuse men’s basketball (5-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) welcomes Cornell (7-1, 0-1 Ivy League) to the Dome for a Central New York battle on Tuesday. SU aims to rebound after a disastrous visit to Charlottesville on Saturday, where it lost 84-62 to Virginia in its ACC opener.
SU was abysmal against Virginia on both sides of the ball. The Cavaliers put up their season-high in points while the Orange were held 16 points below their season average for scoring. UVA was led by sophomore guard Isaac McKneely, whose six hits from deep were more than Syracuse had as an entire team.
“Once the game’s over with, you have to put it behind you,” said SU head coach Adrian Autry. “You can’t dwell on it, whether you win or lose.”
The ‘Hoos are known for their suffocating defense (which ranks second in the nation in scoring defense), and that was the case once again this past weekend. The Orange made only one out of every four attempts from deep and leading scorer Judah Mintz was held to a season-low five points on 2-8 shooting. Autry praised the Cavaliers’ attention to detail.
“I think they do a really good job of having 10 eyes on the ball. They always know where the ball is at. They know where it’s being driven. They have a very good understanding of where they need to be on the floor," said Autry.
This loss in particular was a continued trend for the Orange. Syracuse has now dropped nine of its last 10 against Virginia and each of the last six. During that stretch, SU hasn’t eclipsed 70 points in a game. But rather than focus on a solution for the Cavaliers, Autry wants his squad to shift their energy towards the future.
“It’s the early part of the season. We still have a lot of games left, so we have to put this game behind us and get prepared for our next opponent," said Autry.
That opponent is Cornell: a team Syracuse has had much more success against than Virginia. In fact, the Orange have won 42 straight games over the Big Red dating back to 1968. But this year’s Cornell side is no slouch.
The 2023 Big Red boast a top 25 scoring offense in America, averaging over 85 points per game, and do so by sharing the rock. Cornell dishes out the 17th most assists per game in the nation and has virtually five different double-digit scorers (two sit at 9.9 and 9.6 PPG, respectively). This Big Red offense is set to test an Orange defense that looked porous this weekend.
Syracuse hopes to continue its winning-streak against Cornell and its potent offense when the two sides match up at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. WAER’s coverage begins with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff at 7:30 p.m.