As Syracuse basketball (6-8, 0-3 in the ACC) is set to host Georgia Tech in an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown on Tuesday night at the JMA Wireless Dome, the Orange will be without two scholarship players, including one of its leading scorers to date in the 2024-25 season.
Not too long ago, via separate posts on X, the Orange announced that freshman power forward Donnie Freeman and redshirt sophomore guard Chance Westry are both out tonight as the 'Cuse looks to get back into the win column against the Yellow Jackets.
The 6-foot-9, 205-pound Freeman is out versus Georgia Tech (8-7, 2-2 in the ACC) due to a lower right-leg injury. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound Westry is unavailable "for medical reasons," with the Syracuse basketball program not providing any further details in its social media post.
Naturally, I'm sending positive vibes to Donnie and Chance.
Other Syracuse basketball big men who must step up with Donnie Freeman unavailable.
Westry has barely played in 2024-25 for the Orange, which has lost two straight games and six of its last eight affairs. Per ESPN, he has appeared in three games and logged a total of 11 minutes, scoring zero points while having one assist and one turnover.
Freeman, though, has been a regular in the starting line-up of second-year head coach Adrian Autry this term. Freeman, through 14 contests, has averaged 13.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while connecting on 50.4 percent from the field, 79.6 percent from the free-throw line and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Besides his good scoring production, Freeman currently leads the 'Cuse in rebounds per contest, and that's something to monitor on Tuesday evening against Georgia Tech. I say this because one of the few bright spots for Syracuse basketball in 2024-25 is its work on the glass, which has proven solid.
The 'Cuse and the Yellow Jackets, entering this ACC clash, both average around 38 rebounds per affair, and other Syracuse basketball big men will have to pick up the slack in this department with Freeman injured.
With Freeman out, a handful of Orange forwards and centers must up their game in his absence. They include graduate student center Eddie Lampkin Jr., junior small forward Chris Bell, senior forward Jyare Davis, freshman forward Petar Majstorovic and senior center Naheem McLeod, assuming he sees the court at all.
This past Saturday, when Syracuse basketball lost by 16 points, 90-74, at Florida State, Majstorovic played well, chipping in two points, seven rebounds and one assist in roughly 13 minutes. Lampkin and Davis didn't do much in the team's setback to the Seminoles, although Bell snapped out of his recent funk by connecting on 4-of-4 from 3-point land and notching a team-high 18 points.
Lampkin and Davis each have produced at a high level at various points throughout 2024-25, but like everyone on the Orange's roster this stanza, they're inconsistent with their play. With the 'Cuse desperately in need of a triumph, and the squad's leading rebounder out, I'm hopeful that front-court guys such as Lampkin and Davis will help Syracuse basketball sting the Yellow Jackets.