Syracuse still has plenty of work to do after losing to Oregon

The Syracuse basketball squad experienced a decisive and disappointing defeat for the second-straight outing, this time at the hands of Oregon.

The Syracuse basketball program had hoped for big things in the Big Apple this week. But that result didn’t pan out as planned.

First things first ‘Cuse Nation, let’s not hit the panic button. At least for a bit longer.

The 2018-19 campaign is still in its infancy. Orange senior point guard Frank Howard has yet to see the court this season and there are plenty of future opportunities for Syracuse to pick up quality victories.

Still, what transpired at the 2K Empire Classic inside Madison Square Garden in New York City on Thursday and Friday against Connecticut and Oregon, respectively, is a tad concerning.

No. 15 Syracuse, who may now drop out of the top 25 rankings, fell completely in love with hoisting up tons of shots from downtown, which is clearly not a strength of this roster, considering how few of those tries actually went in the basket.

While the Orange took care of the ball pretty well against the Huskies, the same did not occur on Friday night in an 80-65 demolition by the No. 13 Ducks.

Yes, the ‘Cuse entered the current stanza with more offensive weapons than a term ago. But its real strength lies in driving to the rim, not chucking up 3-pointers.

Other than missing a crazy amount of shots, the main issue is that Syracuse lacks flow, movement, and spacing on offense. There is way too much isolation stuff going on.

Oregon performed well with their own zone defense and the Orange didn’t do a competent job of having someone in the high post. That’s how you beat a zone and Syracuse should know that, given that all they do on defense is play a 2-3 zone.

Speaking of that, the Orange’s defense in these two affairs proved dreadful. In 2017-18, Syracuse possessed a high-quality 2-3 zone and a bevy of college basketball pundits projected that the school’s defense would rank among the top in the sport in 2018-19.

That could hold true down the line, but it’s not very valid for the moment. Both UConn and the Ducks shredded the Orange’s 2-3 zone and each team totally crushed Syracuse on the boards.

This has to reverse course or the Orange are in trouble.

Getting Howard back will help, however, junior wing Tyus Battle and sophomore forward Oshae Brissett have to step up for Syracuse. Stop settling for 3-point attempts. Attack the basket and get to the charity stripe.

During his press conference following the Oregon debacle, Orange head coach Jim Boeheim noted that for his present lineup to succeed, it has to play much better on offense. Plus, he added, the defense is, “not even close to where it was last year.”

I concur, JB.

Syracuse will seek to return to the win column when they host Colgate this coming Wednesday, November 21, inside the Carrier Dome.

I assume that the entire SU community is bummed out at this juncture. I sure am. But the Orange have an abundance of duels remaining.

There’s plenty of time left to improve and, ultimately, excel. We’ll all take a deep breath and stay positive. For now at least.

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