After falling 65-60 on Saturday to Georgia Tech, all but extinguishing Syracuse’s at-large hopes for the NCAA Tournament and ruining all momentum from last week’s 86-79 upset win in the Dome over No. 7 North Carolina. The loss to the Yellow Jackets means it has been exactly a month since Syracuse won back-to-back games against Pittsburgh and Miami, and every time since then the Orange have gotten the job done, it has fallen in its next game.
With five regular-season games to go and three of them on the road, tonight at NC State, March 2nd at Louisville, and March 5th at Clemson, Syracuse and its two true road wins this season against Pittsburgh and Georgetown are looking very lonely, and a big reason why SU is not in the NCAA Tournament discussion at this point. So, with a potential Quad 1 game tonight in Raleigh, here’s what Autry said about not going back to Syracuse after being in Atlanta over the weekend.
“At this point in the season, you’re trying to get your team the most rest as possible. And flying back and forth, back and forth, I thought would be too much,” Autry said during Monday’s ACC Zoom with the conference’s coaches via syracuse.com. “And then also I thought with this game stretch while we’re down here, just keeping the team together, bonding through this stretch, just spending time with each other and continuing to build… Sometimes it’s not just practice. Sometimes it’s just doing things together as a team, being around each other. You get that aspect as well.”
The Orange’s 15-10 overall record according to the NET (not including the win over Chaminade in the Maui Invitational) includes a 2-7 mark in Q1 (wins over Pittsburgh on the road and UNC at home), 3-1 in Q2, 6-2 in Q3 (losses to Florida State at home and Georgia Tech on the road), and 4-0 in Q4 for an overall ranking of 90. Not a tournament resume. Despite this, it is still a good sign that Autry is trying everything he can to keep this group together after such a tough nonconference schedule, up and down league slate, and team controversies along the way.
“I think like anything, any team, being around your teammates, that camaraderie just organically happens, as opposed to going back, going to your apartment, going to class during this short period of time,” Autry said via syracuse.com. “Just being around, going to practice, going back from practice, sitting in the room, sitting down in the lobby, having meals together – all those things are important. And I think especially for this stretch of games right here.”
