BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2013 Syracuse finished up an unremarkable three-game exhibition slate with a 71-58 win over Niagara in Buffalo on Saturday. The Orange nearly gave up a 17-point lead, as Niagara cut it all the way down to four in the second half, but Syracuse had too much in the final minutes.<\/p>\n
SU still played without Aiden Tobiason, the Temple transfer who will be one of the most important pieces on the roster. He injured his hamstring in the first exhibition against UConn.<\/p>\n
Here are a few takeaways from the game.<\/p>\n
Coming off of the UConn exhibition, it looked as though Sadiq White had taken a major jump from year one to year two. Two games later, that seems more in doubt. White picked up two early fouls against the Purple Eagles and sat much of the first half. When he returned at the beginning of the second half, it took him just 12 seconds to commit his third foul. Gerry McNamara didn\u2019t put him back in the game.<\/p>\n
White played just eight minutes, scoring four points on 2-for-5 from the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was game flow,\u201d McNamara said of why he didn\u2019t go back in the game. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t had any rhythm, and I\u2019m going to put him in a couple possession game? It was just one of those things where he didn\u2019t find the rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also one other big dangling matzo ball with White\u2019s exhibition performances.<\/p>\n
White said that grabbing only one rebound in 25 minutes against UConn was unacceptable. In 25 more minutes, against Siena and Niagara, he grabbed just one more rebound. He had seven personal fouls between those two games as well. While Syracuse outrebounded Niagara by 19, White can\u2019t be a bystander on the glass.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s gotta rebound,\u201d McNamara said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking 50 minutes now, and he\u2019s got two rebounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiyan Anthony\u2019s disappointing exhibitions<\/p>\n
Kiyan Anthony didn\u2019t score in 13 minutes of action against Niagara. Through 51 minutes in three exhibitions, he has six points and is shooting 2-for-16 from the field. He hasn\u2019t made a three in three games.<\/p>\n
Anthony doesn\u2019t look like an improved player from his freshman season. On a Syracuse team that lacks players that can create their own shot consistently, there certainly is a niche for a volume scorer type, but Anthony doesn\u2019t look like he can fulfill that role at the moment. McNamara says that he needs to draw up better looks for the sophomore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gotta get Kiy going,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to do a better job trying to get him in some actions and get him open looks.\u201d<\/p>\n
There certainly hasn\u2019t been much in terms of good looks created for Anthony, but there haven\u2019t been a ton of good looks created for any of Syracuse\u2019s supposed top scoring threats. This isn\u2019t a team that will play pretty offense. In order for Anthony to stay on the floor, he needs to put the ball in the basket, regardless of how it comes.<\/p>\n
The great point guard conundrum continues<\/p>\n
Once again, Ryan Moesch played more minutes than Garwey Dual. Moesch was strong in his 22 minutes of action, scoring nine points and dishing out six assists. He also snatched four steals. He\u2019s a confident player who loves to push the ball up the floor, and he\u2019s opportunistic as a passer. He threw a few lobs, including one to Abdramane Siby in the first half.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery game that we played,\u201d McNamara said. \u201cHe\u2019s come in and changed the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what about Dual? McNamara has given him a tighter leash than Moesch thus far despite his seniority and the impact that he has on the defensive end. Dual drilled a three-pointer early in the game, something that Syracuse will need him to do when he\u2019s open. He finished with six points, two blocks, two rebounds, a steal, and a turnover. Notably, he didn\u2019t have an assist in 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
McNamara thought he should\u2019ve had one late in the first half when he drove to the basket and tried a fancy layup instead of leaving the ball for Luke Wilson. Dual was pulled from the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very demanding of that position because it is so important, and I\u2019m hard on him, especially, because I know I need to help him get there,\u201d McNamara said of Dual. \u201cHe\u2019s a good player that should be really good. I want him to control the tempo. I want him to do the same thing he does on defense. I want him to get in the paint, make the right read; I want him to be able to make the open three.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m curious to see if McNamara gives Dual a longer leash in the regular season in order to keep his defense on the floor. Moesch outperformed Dual in the exhibitions, but if Syracuse is going to have a good year, Dual needs to be a big part of it.<\/p>\n
When White picked up his second foul, McNamara turned to Tasman Goodrick to replace him. With Luke Wilson already on the floor, this meant playing Goodrick at the power forward spot. Goodrick essentially only played the five for Siena in the nine games that he played last year, and then got the start at the five in the first exhibition against UConn.<\/p>\n
However, all 15 of his minutes against Niagara came at the four spot. It was a shock to the system to see him camping in the corner and attempting a catch-and-shoot three in the first half. He attempted just one three last season, and five two years ago at Gannon.<\/p>\n
But his minutes at the four weren\u2019t bad. Syracuse was plus-10 in his minutes; he scored six points and grabbed five rebounds. I wonder how much of a factor this will be throughout the year.<\/p>\n
You have to force more turnovers<\/p>\n
Syracuse built its roster around its length and athleticism on the defensive side of the ball, yet it only forced nine turnovers against Niagara on Saturday. The Orange haven\u2019t been as disruptive on defense as McNamara would\u2019ve hoped thus far.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be able to turn people over,\u201d McNamara said. \u201cThe problem right now is we haven\u2019t impacted ball screens, which we\u2019ll work on this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Syracuse has switched ball screens one-through-four, but has played a lot of drop coverage \u2013 which doesn\u2019t force many turnovers in general \u2013 when the five man gets involved. McNamara wants the Orange to be more disruptive on off-ball actions, while staying disciplined guarding ball screens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2013 Syracuse finished up an unremarkable three-game exhibition slate with a 71-58 win over Niagara in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99,73023],"class_list":["post-894380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports","tag-syracuse-mens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}