Syracuse basketball blames ‘little things’ for latest loss. They’re adding up for Orange and Autry
Syracuse, N.Y. — The missed rebound didn’t cost Syracuse the game against Virginia Tech. But it was the play that seemed to bother coach Adrian Autry the most.
It was poor second-half offense, turnovers and shaky shot selection that served as the primary culprits for Syracuse’s second straight costly defeat on Wednesday night, this one a 76-74 loss to Virginia Tech.
Still, Autry’s mind kept returning to Donnie Freeman’s inability to corral a missed Virginia Tech free throw in the final seconds anyway, a miscue that prompted one of the most emotional post-game moments during his tenure.
Autry harped on the moment multiple times in his post-game comments, and Freeman chastised himself for it in hushed, almost inaudible, tones in the locker room.
Despite his recent star turn, Freeman said he believed he’d cost the Orange the past two games, ones they couldn’t afford to lose against Boston College and Virginia Tech.
He offered no excuses as he faced questions from reporters, visibly hurt by the way things went against the Hokies.
“I just didn’t get it,” Freeman said of the rebound. “There’s no excuse. I’ve said it before, but these little things are starting to haunt us. Missed free throw box out this game, missed free throw last game. That’s two games, back-to-back, I’ve cost us. It’s painful.”
The little things are leading to losses. And the losses are piling up.
The missed rebound was symbolic of how things have gone for the Orange this season, where a seemingly talented roster has already played its way into an uphill climb to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
It’s symbolic of how things have gone for Syracuse in two-plus seasons under Autry, a third-year coach who finds himself needing to dig out of a hole to meet his athletic director’s mandate of “meaningful games in March.”
“We have to have more focus,” Autry said. “Focus is the word I would use. In the margins. That’s what we talk about.”
In a world where only strong athletes and knowledgeable coaches exist, the successful ones win those margins.
Syracuse keeps finding ways to lose them.
One game earlier against Boston College, Freeman failed to hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw, and the Orange failed to follow instructions and foul a Boston College 3-point shooter before he launched a game-tying shot. Autry and his staff also burned a timeout that would have been useful on an unsuccessful challenge.
A technical foul on Sadiq White helped fuel Hofstra’s upset win in the JMA Wireless Dome back in December. The Orange’s poor free-throw shooting cost it a critical early season game against Houston in Las Vegas.
Center Will Kyle pointed out that the Orange currently rank last in the ACC in turnovers, giving the ball away 14.5 times per game in conference play. Autry said he felt a number of the Orange’s turnovers against Virginia Tech were a product of carelessness.
“We were in position to win the game and we didn’t do the things we needed to do,” Kyle said. “We didn’t get the 50-50 balls. We didn’t get offensive rebounds. We could have been smarter on defense with our fouls. It’s a combination of all those things.”
Since Autry has taken over the program, the Orange has too often failed to do the little things required to win games, and a once-proud program has continued a slide toward average that began late in the tenure of legendary coach Jim Boeheim.
During the loss to Virginia Tech, fans expressed their frustration with the state of the program. The JMA Wireless Dome crowd booed the team on multiple occasions and some students briefly broke out into a quiet but audible, “Fire Autry” chant.
Autry is 46-38 as a head coach at Syracuse, with a 21-25 record in the ACC.
Syracuse, a program with the seventh-most wins in Division I men’s basketball history, is tied for seventh among the 15 longest-tenured ACC schools (not counting recent additions Cal, Stanford and SMU) in conference wins since Autry took over.
The Orange has added to that mark with the easiest part of this season’s schedule already in the rearview mirror.
It faces teams receiving Associated Press Top 25 votes in its next two games, starting Saturday against Miami.
For Autry and the Orange, the little things — and the losses — are piling up and time is running short.
“We know we’re way better than we’re showing,” freshman guard Kiyan Anthony said. “That’s an easy win we could have had. We dropped one. We dropped one to Boston. We have to tighten up. … We’ve dropped a lot of games we would have won.”
