The Orange scrape past Bulls in exhibition, 76-66

Syracuse found itself in Western New York tonight to face the University at Buffalo Bulls in an exhibition game, looking to find its footing before the season starts in just over a week. 

It’s the first look at a squad featuring 11 new faces and a haunting 4-year hiatus from the tournament. The journey for the Orange starts in Buffalo. The game was played at the KeyBank Center, a site for the upcoming Division One Men’s Basketball tournament.

“Thats the end goal, to be playing on these sites.” Head coach Adrian Autry said.

A potential preview of what SU’s could look like this year was shown early in the first half, with Syracuse exhibiting pedal-to-the-floor tempo. The pace on both sides had a high caliber, with SU collecting five steals while running a full-court press defensively the entire game.

Offensively, the aggressive trends continued. Just prior to halfway through the first, up 19-11, eight out of the Orange’s eleven shots came from three. Four-star sophomore transfer Tyler Betsy led the Orange scoring with 14 points, nailing two shots from deep, before the halfway mark of the first. Betsy finished perfect from beyond-the-arc, sinking all three of his shots from deep.

New faces, like Betsy, played a big part all night with transfers and true freshman accounting for 57 of the Orange’s 76 points.

Kiyan Anthony, was a big focus of the media during the offseason and showed out on offense in his first appearance with his father Carmelo Anthony’s alma mater. The freshman picked up 10 points in 17 minutes, also contributing on defense. Most of his impact came off the stat sheet, though notably Anthony collected a block and a steal to boot. 

Georgia Tech transfer Naithan George was another new face, doing everything he could, collecting nine points, six assists and seven rebounds in 25 minutes of play. George was named one of two captains prior to the season. The other being returning senior guard J.J. Starling. 

‘Cuse continued a trend of three pointers that developed last season. At the half, Syracuse shot half of their 24 attempted field goals from three, a percentage that stayed relatively the same, as it finished, having shot 22 of its 52 attempts from deep.

“I thought we did a good job, I still think we missed a couple, especially in the solo situations,” Autry said. “We’d like to get more threes than 22 because I think this team has a really good ability to make shots.”

A lot of those deep offensive chances came with help from forward William Kyle III, who led the Orange on the glass with five offensive boards, and nine boards total. The former South Dakota State Jackrabbit transferred to UCLA before coming to Syracuse.

“It felt really, really good,” Kyle said. “I was nervous and excited at the same time, you know, last year not really playing as much, to really be back out there and play and feel free.”

That faster pace may have been a reason it struggled with 17 offensive turnovers. Difficulty hanging onto the ball would eventually come back to bite them. The Orange defense began to peel late in the game as its 18 point lead with 12 minutes to go slipped in the last 10 minutes. 

The Bulls pulled within four in the last minute, down 70-66, but couldn’t find a way back into it, eventually falling 76-66.

“It was gritty but it wasn’t pretty, you know?” Autry said.

The win extends Syracuse’s exhibition game winning streak to 30. The Orange will return to the Dome to face Pace University on Wednesday, before hosting Binghamton for the season opener on November 2nd.