Syracuse Basketball: Oakland Golden Grizzlies crystal ball predictions

Chris Queripel, contributor (7-3)

Syracuse basketball finds itself at the bottom of the ACC standings. With a reprieve coming up, ‘Cuse will face three straight non-power-five opponents. The first of those will be Oakland.

The Golden Grizzlies are 5-6 on the year and play in the Horizon Conference. The squad has lost three games by three points or less and have also seen significant defeats against top-ranked opponents.

Now I don’t think this should be a difficult win for the Orange. I do believe it is an important game. Syracuse is off to a disastrous start, and if they can’t correct it, then they will continue to spiral out of control. It’s no secret that the Syracuse offense can be stagnant and is primarily led by Elijah Hughes and Buddy Boeheim.

The problem is that Hughes and Boeheim cannot get hot at the same time during the game. Let’s take a look back at their recent 89-79 loss to Georgetown. Hughes had a tremendous first half but only contributed three points in the second. On the other hand, Boeheim had no points in the first and ended with 25.

Look for the two starters to build some continuity and score when they are both on the floor. The next issue for the ‘Cuse is fouling. It is evident that this year’s team is not extremely deep in talent, and committing fouls exposes even more flaws.

If the big men, mainly Dolezaj and Sidibe, cannot stay on the floor, then there is a major gap down in the block for coach Boeheim. Lastly, Syracuse needs to do a better job on the glass. ‘Cuse is in the bottom 25 of allowing offensive rebounds to opposing team. They give up over 10 plus a game. I look for Syracuse to correct some of these flaws over the next three games. Against Oakland, I predict the Orange to win 75-60.