Five Takeaways: Syracuse 79 Colgate 75

What to make of the Orange's comeback victory over the Raiders.

Syracuse basketball rallied from 24 points down to beat Colgate 79-75 Tuesday night in the JMA Wireless Dome. Here are five takeaways from the win. 

1. Resiliency

Let's be honest, it looked really bad before the comeback. Colgate was having its way with Syracuse on both ends. Defensively, they were forcing Syracuse to play to its weaknesses. Offensively, they were getting open shots anytime they wanted. When the lead ballooned to 24, I honestly thought the game was over. The fact that they were able to rally the way they did, never stop fighting, against a good veteran team, is impressive. That level of resiliency and fight will serve them well throughout the season. It says a lot about the makeup of this team. 

2. Defense

For the first 24 minutes of the game, the defense was awful. Giving up too many open looks and seemed to lack energy on that end of the floor. Once Judah Mintz created a steal that led to a dunk to trim the lead to 20, a fire seemed to be lit under this team. The full court press caused the defensive intensity to increase exponentially and that led to turning Colgate over 14 times in the second half compared to just three for Syracuse. The way this team is going to be successful is through its defense and that showed out Tuesday night. 

3. Chris Bell

A big reason Syracuse was able to come back was Chris Bell. He got hot for a stretch during the rally and scored a career high 25 points overall. Not only did he make six threes, but he also showed the ability to attack the basket and score in the lane in traffic. It was an impressive offensive showing from Bell. The next step for him is to rebound better during such a strong offensive performance as he recorded none Tuesday night. While he did have six in the first two games this season, the Orange needs more from him on the glass. Defensively, despite only recording one steal, his on ball defense was good. 

4. Rebounding

Syracuse ended up getting out-rebounded by 44-32, but the second half was much better. Colgate won the battle of the boards 25-12 in the first half while the Orange won by one after intermission. Still, given Syracuse's size advantage, it should have been better. It needs to be better moving forward. Especially as other teams try to get more opportunities through offensive rebounds, Syracuse will have to be better securing the defensive board. Syracuse cannot repeat its first half performance from a variety of perspectives, but especially on the boards. It was a positive that Syracuse bounced back in the second half, however. 

5. Red's Leadership

We are still figuring out how coach Autry runs things in terms of his rotation, number of players that will play, in game strategies, etc. One significant thing we learned Tuesday night is that the team loves to play for him. You cannot come back the way Syracuse did unless that is true. His leadership to keep the team believing they could come back even when it looked about as bleak as it could get was impressive. That is a significant sign, just three games into his tenure, that Syracuse made a good decision hiring him. 

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