There will be tournament implications on the line when Syracuse men’s basketball (12-17, 6-12 Atlantic Coast Conference) travels to Dallas to face SMU (21-8, 12-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) for the first time ever. Despite losing in overtime to Virginia Tech last Saturday, SU clinched a spot in the ACC tournament with losses from Boston College and NC State.
While SMU is fighting against North Carolina and Wake Forest for the No. 4 seed in the tournament, Syracuse is fighting for seeding at the bottom. A big reason why is its defensive issues. After Saturday’s game, head coach Adrian Autry made it clear that improvements were needed.
“It [the defense] just wasn’t good enough," Autry said. "82 points [in regulation] is a lot of points, especially on the road. It’s hard to win on the road when you let a team score like that."
Those defensive issues have led the Orange to 12 conference losses, the most in program history. If SU goes winless in their final two regular season games, it will be the most losses in a single season since 1962. Despite the poor season,Autry believes his team can keep going.
“These guys have fought," Autry said. "There is no quit in them, I will say that. Even though we come up on the wrong side of it, you gotta keep fighting and keep battling”
For SMU, this season has been much different. In their first season in the ACC, the Mustangs have made a strong name for themselves. They have 12 wins in conference, tied for the 5th most in program history. Syracuse’s shaky defense will have its hands full tomorrow. SMU averages more 81.7 points a game, the 3rd highest mark in the conference.
The game starts inside the Moody Coliseum for 9 p.m. Tune in starting at 8:30 p.m. for McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff on 88.3 FM and waer.org.