Hold your horses. Syracuse’s march madness hopes aren’t out of the picture yet.
The offense played its most complete game of the season in SU’s 86-79 upset victory over No. 7 North Carolina on Tuesday. The Orange defeated a top-10 opponent for the first time since 2019.
After dropping three of its last four games, Syracuse finally shot the basketball at a high clip. SU converted 63% of its tries and 47% from the three-point line. Four of the five Orange starters notched double-digit points.
Successful shooting nights have been hard to come by for head coach Adrian Autry’s squad. The offense has been inconsistent through much of the season. Against Clemson over the weekend, Syracuse made just 39% of its shot attempts.
Despite the inconsistency, the potential of SU’s offense is sky high.
When the Orange are firing on all cylinders, such as the UNC game, they’re hard to beat. The problem is Syracuse is far too unpredictable on a given night.
SU’s offense starts with the backcourt duo of guards JJ Starling and Judah Mintz. They combined for 48 points on Tuesday. If the Orange have consistent production from both of them every game, they can win more often. Most notably, Starling has been on a tear recording double-digit points over the past nine games.
Another key contributor who has stepped up lately is forward Chris Bell.
His three-point shooting has been off the charts. Bell’s knocked down 15 of his last 27 triples in the last three games after going 0-7 in two contests prior.
The small Orange lineup is showing life with six regular season games remaining.
Syracuse’s offense just showed it can play complete games and fight for one another. There’s no reason SU can’t still be a good team down the stretch, regardless of tournament implications.
