Well, in the literal sense, the Orange will go back to practice Wednesday at the Melo Center to get ready for Saturday’s game against Northeastern. But, in the theoretical sense, SU is in a place of the unknown, having lost to Colgate for the second straight season since the John F. Kennedy administration last night.
The Raiders took down the Orange 80-68, with over 70% of Colgate’s points coming on threes as it went 19/38 from downtown. Tucker Richardson was the star of the show, scoring 27 points and going 7/11 from three. The Raiders shot better from three than they did the field, but that didn’t matter. It was all Colgate from start to finish, and SU could never get it down to even a two-possession game in the second half.
For Syracuse, it is a very interesting box score. Chris Bell started at forward and only ended up playing eight minutes, taking just one three-pointer to save him from the famous “Club Trillion”. The only significant contributor from the bench for Jim Boeheim was Symir Torrence, who played 24 minutes, went 2/8 from the field, and score five points with four rebounds and four assists.
By using Torrence in the role he did, Boeheim seems to just be throwing anything at the wall and seeing what sticks, and the lineup of Torrence, Joe Girard III, Judah Mintz, Benny Williams, and Jesse Edwards got the majority of the playing time. Statistically, Williams and Mintz had good games.
Williams had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Mintz finished with 20 points as they both shot 50% from the field. But, Girard had just 14 points on 4/15 shooting, and 4/12 from three. That’s not going to cut it. Colgate’s pressure defense flustered the senior guard, and he just could not find a rhythm or his shooting stroke all night.
However, the biggest concern of the night was Jesse Edwards. The tallest player on the floor scored just 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and did block five shots, but he only had six shot attempts himself. The senior did take six free throws, but against a mid-major, that size advantage is something that should have been established early and was not.
(To take your mind off that rough night, here’s some funny basketball-themed team names.)
So, that’s the surface-level box score analysis. No one else who came off the bench made an impact in their minutes as Quadir Copeland, Maliq Brown, and Justin Taylor played sparingly. But, Boeheim has a lot of questions that need answers moving forward. Playing two different defenses clearly is not working, and neither seems to be very effective.
The offense is too reliant on isolation and hero ball and has no movement, which the head coach eluded to after the game. Syracuse has a myriad of problems and not a lot of time to fix them. Thankfully, unlike last season, the Orange don’t go to the Bahamas immediately after losing to Colgate, there is time to regroup at home and get ready for Brooklyn next week. But, to say this is a concerning trend is the nicest way of putting Tuesday’s loss. This isn’t rock bottom yet, but it’s getting close.