Syracuse men’s basketball tips off conference play against Notre Dame with both squads reeling

Syracuse men’s basketball (4-3, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) has its first conference matchup of the season against Notre Dame (4-5, 0-0 ACC) tomorrow.

The ‘Cuse enters Saturday’s contest losers of three of its last four games. The latest game was the ugliest for SU: a 26-point demolition against No. 3 Tennessee this past Tuesday night. It was the largest margin of defeat for Syracuse this season after losing by a combined nine points to Texas and Texas Tech in its first two losses. Head coach Adrian Autry bluntly described his team's performance after the game.

“By all means, this was an unacceptable performance,” said Autry. “We have to, and we will do better… this is not Syracuse basketball.”

The second-year head man claimed the first steps to righting the ship starts with defense. The Orange are ranked second-to-last in the ACC in points allowed. SU also joins UNC as the only two squads in the conference to allow 90+ points in multiple games through the young season after the loss in Knoxville. Syracuse guard Jaquan Carlos attributed the team’s effort on the defensive end in its last game to the team's energy.

“I think we came out a little flat,” said the Hofstra transfer. "Those guys were getting a lot of straight line drives and beating us to the rim.”

Those straight line drives led to 44 points in the paint for the Volunteers, a season-high given up by the Orange. The interior shouldn’t be as much of a concern for the SU defense against Notre Dame though. The Fighting Irish only mustered 26 points inside in its last game against Georgia, just below their 27 point average. Attacking the paint is not necessarily Notre Dame’s forte; the Irish are ranked in the top half of the ACC in three-pointers made and three-point percentage. However, Notre Dame has gone cold in its last three weeks.

The Irish began the season 4-0, but it's been all downhill since. Notre Dame has lost five straight and the streak began three weeks ago to mid-major Elon. The team down in South Bend has struggled to knock down its triples, particularly in its last three games. The Irish shot just 31% as a unit in their last three contests which is down 4% from their season average. Its last game was the worst of it for Notre Dame: ND nailed just 21% of its shots from downtown. The Irish’s two most frequent three-point shooters, guards Braeden Shrewsberry and Matt Allocco, shot a combined 3-10 from beyond the arc.

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Not only have Syracuse and Notre Dame slowed down recently, both squads received a gut-punch with injury. On Tuesday morning, SU announced leading-scorer guard JJ Starling would be out indefinitely with a broken left hand. The junior was averaging just a tick below 20 points per game before the injury (a nearly seven point increase from last season’s average). Notre Dame’s scoring-leader guard Marcus Burton left early in a game against Rutgers two Tuesdays ago. The team announced the next day the sophomore would be on a “week-to-week” basis. Burton averages slightly over 18 points per game which puts him amongst the top 5 scorers in the ACC.

“We’re just gonna put this in God’s hands,” said Irish head coach Micah Shrewberry on Burton’s injury, “we’ll let him handle, whatever happens next, and we’ll handle it.”

With both squads hungry for a win, there’s a chance this contest goes down to the wire. After all, history suggests a close one between Notre Dame and Syracuse; in its last nine matchups, neither side has won by double-digits or more. The last time these two foes faced off the Orange almost let the Irish complete a 29-point comeback in a 88-85 win. The next chapter between the two is set for noon tomorrow on 88.3 FM. WAER’s coverage begins at 11:30 for Countdown to Tipoff.