The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team wrapped up its exhibition season at 2-1 with a 13-point win over Niagara on Saturday afternoon in Buffalo.
The Orange previously lost to the UConn Huskies and beat the Siena College Saints.
Now? All eyes are on the regular season, which begins on Nov. 2 at home against New Haven. While everyone understands that building the Orange back will be a process, expectations are high for Gerry McNamara in his first year as head coach.
The Orange haven't been to the NCAA Tournament in five years, and it could be tough this year, even with an expanded field, but McNamara is certainly working tirelessly to end that drought.
With the exhibition season now behind us, here's three takeaways from what we've observed.
1) McNamara is a stickler for the details
You talk about holding players to a standard and holding players accountable? That's McNamara thus far. During the preseason, he wasn't afraid to take out players that weren't living up to his expectation (Garwey Dual), and he wasn't afraid to demand more from them in postgame media sessions (Sadiq White Jr.).
It's clear that McNamara has a set of principles and beliefs that he lives by, and if you aren't upholding them, you'll find yourself on the bench. I wouldn't be shocked to see him continue to send messages throughout the non-conference season as well.
2) The Orange need to learn how to close
Learning how to win is a skill, and this team doesn't have it quite yet. Syracuse led Siena by 13-points in the second half, but that lead dropped to one with just 90 seconds left. They led Niagara by double-digits before the Purple Eagles cut it to five.
McNamara has said that his team needs to make better decisions at times, and that is evident in games where they do have the lead. You'd certainly expect Syracuse to have the lead in some of these upcoming non-conference games, especially early in the season. Will they get leads and separate? Or, will they get leads and watch them disappear?
3) The Orange need more from returners
This team has just two returners from a season ago that figure to see significant minutes: Kiyan Anthony and White. And they need more from both of them.
We covered Anthony's situation on Monday, but White, one of the most athletic players on the roster, also has to contribute more. Him having just two rebounds in the entire exhibition season simply isn't good enough.