An ugly win, still counts as a win and Syracuse men’s basketball found a way to take down St. Joseph’s

After its longest break in between games all season long, Syracuse men’s basketball (6-3, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) pulled out a 71-63 win over St. Joseph’s (6-4, 0-0 Atlantic 10 Conference). While many thought this non-conference meeting would be a rout, a lack of energy and effort from Syracuse, outside of one player, made the game close until the end.

These two teams were only separated by three points at the 5:29 mark in the second half. But the Orange went on what turned out to be a pivotal, game-deciding stretch of the game. SU outscored St. Joes 9-2 over the next two minutes. Until that point in the game, nobody knew who would emerge victorious.

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SU head coach Adrian Autry thought that a big reason why the game was so undecided was his team’s lack of effort.

“My main thing from today was that our energy and attention to our energy level wasn’t there today,” Autry said.

A significant area where the lack of energy was evident was on the glass. The ‘Cuse was out-rebounded by 10, which is the fifth straight game that they have lost the rebounding battle.

As a whole, the Orange have been out-rebounded in six out of the nine games this season. Coach Autry believes that it all comes down to properly closing out possessions and a lack of effort.

“When looking at the [rebounding] difference, a lot of them [rebounds] came at crucial times, where we got a stop and we get them to miss, and we just can’t get the ball,” Coach Autry said. “Again it all goes back to our level five [energy level] and it wasn’t there tonight, not at all.”

Outside of the ‘Cuse struggling with energy for arguably the first time this season, a consistent problem in every game thus far this season is free throws.

Against the Hawks, the Orange made 15 out of 28 from the charity stripe, which is good for a percentage of 53.6. Syracuse now has the lowest free-throw percentage in all of Division I men’s basketball (361 teams) at 56.8 percent.

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One player who showed plenty of effort and shot the ball well tonight for Syracuse tonight was forward Tyler Betsey. The sophomore came off the bench and tied a career high with 16 points. Betsey shot a career-high 6-9 from the field and 3-5 from behind the arc. For the sophomore, he wants to make an impact on the game on both sides of the floor.

“When I come into the game, I try to be aggressive, score the ball, and make plays on defense,” Betsey said. “Tonight was kind of like a wake-up call, and we are definitely thinking we could have played better, but we have a quick turnaround and are excited to prove ourselves.”

With last night’s game against the Hawks now in the rear-view mirror, Syracuse hops right back on the horse and hosts Hofstra tomorrow at 4:00. WAER’s coverage of SU’s non-conference clash begins with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff at 3:30, which will be live right here on waer.org or on 88.3 FM.