Following his team's blowout setback at Wake Forest on Saturday evening, Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry was understandably frustrated, upset and angry regarding the Orange's sub-par performance.
The Demon Deacons, on their own turf, shot better than 60 percent from the field and beyond the arc in crushing the 'Cuse, 99-70, inside the LJVM Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.
This was a quadrant-one opportunity for the Orange, yet the squad ended up losing its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference road game after falling by five points to Boston College a few days ago.
🎥 @CoachRedAutry's postgame press conference pic.twitter.com/sw9fXwZNcy
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) February 4, 2024
In his post-game press conference after Syracuse basketball lost to Wake Forest, Autry said his players' performance versus the Demon Deacons was "unacceptable" and "won’t be tolerated."
Head coach Adrian Autry was not pleased with how his Syracuse basketball players fared at Wake Forest.
The Orange's offensive struggles in the 2023-24 season have been apparent on numerous times throughout the current campaign, and those woes were lucid on Saturday night at the Demon Deacons. The 'Cuse hit on just 40 percent from the field, 26 percent from 3-point land and 68 percent from the free-throw line.
More concerning, though, is that the team entered this ACC clash as a top-35 squad on a national scale via KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency. Yet Wake Forest connected on 66 percent from the field, 63 percent from beyond the arc and 71 percent from the charity stripe.
The Demon Deacons also easily took care of the Orange on the glass, 36-23, along with a large 40-26 edge in paint points. This league affair was a quadrant-one opportunity for the 'Cuse (14-8, 5-6 in the ACC), but yet again Syracuse basketball got trounced.
Winning at Wake Forest would have been a tall task, without question. My biggest concern is that when the Orange loses, it loses big. Save for the setback at Boston College by five points, Syracuse basketball has fallen by at least 16 points in each of its seven other losses. Plus, while SU is 10-1 at home, it is just 4-7 in combined neutral-site and road games.
Autry said that his players, against Wake Forest, "Didn’t respond well. Didn’t play together. Just didn’t compete. ..." He apologized to Orange fans and Syracuse University for that performance.
The 'Cuse head coach ripped into his players' body language, adding that they "did not play any defense at all.” Giving up 80 points to Boston College and then nearly 100 points to the Demon Deacons is problematic, even if both of those foes are high-scoring, good-shooting opponents.
Syracuse basketball has nine games left in the 2023-24 regular season, including a three-encounter home stand coming up that starts with Louisville heading to the JMA Wireless Dome this Wednesday night.
Autry, whose presser was pretty eye-opening to me, said it's time for the Orange to get to work, and "We gonna work to my standards."