Syracuse had its worst basketball season in nearly 60 years. The team doesn’t see that as reason enough to stop competing with the ACC Tournament on the horizon.
The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team finished the regular season on a positive note to an otherwise underwhelming season underscored by numerous disappointing defeats. Before entering ACC Tournament play, the Orange dispatched the Virginia Cavaliers on Senior Day to close out a forgettable 13-18 season on the upswing.
Adrian Autry recognized the importance of closing conference play with a win, acknowledging the confidence boost needed heading into ACC Tournament play with the disappointment of the regular season in the rearview mirror. While acknowledging the program’s shortcomings, Autry expressed pride in his team for continuing to fight.
“We kept fighting and not once did I think they packed it in,” Autry said. “Through everything we’ve learned a lot this year. For those guys this experience here, I remind them this is how the world is. When hard times come you can’t lay down. You’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to keep fighting. And they did that.”
If Syracuse was supposed to lose heart due to this lost season that not only failed to live up to expectations but will go down as the worst for the program in nearly 60 years, don’t tell the team that. The players haven’t found reason to succumb to discouragement.
“There’s been a lot of legendary runs in college sports before so there’s no reason we shouldn’t put our all towards it now,” Lucas Taylor said. “We have a chance to make it to the tournament still if we win the ACC Tournament. So there’s no reason we shouldn’t leave it all out there.”
While the ACC is less than a year removed from the DJ Burns and NC State five-games-in-five-days ACC Tournament run, nobody is expecting that out of Syracuse. At this point, it’s win or go home. What does Syracuse really have to lose at this point? Orange players feel as if they’re playing their best basketball at this point in the season.
“I feel like we’re going to go on a run,” Kyle Cuffe said. “I feel like we have all the pieces so it’s just little, small tweaks that we can fix and we’re going to be good.”
For Eddie Lampkin, the ACC Tournament offers a chance to extend his college basketball career just a little longer. He emphasized the importance of executing and competing hard for the whole game.
“If we do that I feel like we’ll make a run,” Lampkin said. “The game (is) 40 minutes and you go home if you lose. I’ll be sad if we lose. I don’t want to go home sad.”
Melina Myers-Imagn Images
Syracuse will enter the ACC Tournament as the No. 14 seed Tuesday night, facing off against Florida State — a team that beat Syracuse by 16 to just two months ago. That was Donnie Freeman’s last game before his season ended with a right foot injury, which required surgery. If Syracuse is to go on a run as the players expect, it’ll have to do so against the fourth tallest team in the country. The team feels a sense of urgency knowing it’s do or die from here on out.
“We’re only guaranteed one game from this point forward,” Taylor said. “Play with a little bit of desperation but a little bit more intensity. We know this could be the last time we touch the floor again. Let’s give it our all.”
With the ACC Tournament tipping off in Charlotte, Taylor — originally from Raleigh — smiled at the thought of playing back in his home state. He gave admission to its meaning.
“Especially because we didn’t play in North Carolina this year,” Taylor said. “I’ll have a lot people there for sure.”
Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images
Syracuse, heading into the 2024-25 season with a relative lack of resources, knowledge, talent — and to some, coaching — all led to a lost season that included injuries and excluded accolades the Syracuse program is accustom to. The Orange lost its best player JJ Starling for seven games, its best professional prospect Donnie Freeman for 17 games and counting, Elijah Moore for the last five and Chance Westry who had a preseason illness that set him back and limited him to appearances in only three games. With eight losses by two possessions or less, it’s easy to wonder what the team could’ve done at full strength, or a larger a NIL purse.
Nevertheless, this is what Syracuse had to work with and there are no excuses. Programs at this level don’t get credit for playing hard or not giving up. College basketball always has been and always will be about winning. Those expectations for Syracuse have been laid bare for next season.
“This wasn’t the season that we wanted record wise — not for me, not for any of these guys here, not for our fans, not for anybody here that follows us,” Autry said. “Within that, when you do have hard times, you want to see people fight. You want to see people not give in and not give up.
“Through the difficult times and the hard times they never stopped. They kept fighting. I’m proud that they did that. It’s bad. To be honest with you, it could’ve been worse. They didn’t let it happen. … But it wasn’t like we just laid down. I’m proud of my team for that.”