The Syracuse men’s basketball team shot a blistering 60.7% from the field in the second half to pull away from Division II Pace, winning its final exhibition game 75-57 Wednesday night at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Donnie Freeman scored 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds, both game highs. Freshman Sadiq White Jr. added 14 points in his Syracuse debut. He was 6-of-8 shooting, making both of his 3-point attempts, and added four rebounds. Four of his baskets came on dunks.

William Kyle III and Nate Kingz also were in double digits with 10 points.

Jabari Nurse led Pace with 20 points.

The win wasn’t easy. The Orange needed every point they could muster on a night that they didn’t look ready to tangle with Power Four competition.

"Tonight was not the night,” head coach Adrian Autry said.

“The energy, the effort we needed to have ... I was very disappointed," he continued.

Syracuse scored the first six points, but Pace went on a 15-6 run to lead by three points at the 10:23 mark of the first half. With just over four minutes to play before the half, Pace led by five, but Syracuse responded with a 10-3 run to take a 29-27 lead into the locker room.

The Orange shot 42.3% in the half, including 2 of 12 from long range. Pace hit 50% of its shots – 4 of 10 from 3-point territory, impressing Autry.

“We got punked a little bit,” he said.

The Setters came out firing in the second half and led 40-37 at the 15:03 mark following an Ethan Robertson 3-pointer.

But Syracuse, trailing by a point after a jumper by Nurse with 13:12 to go, went on a 28-5 run to go up 72-50. A 16-0 stretch in that span included seven points from Kingz.

Autry undoubtedly saw room for improvement before the season starts Tuesday at home against Binghamton. The numbers jump off the stat sheet.

Syracuse shot just 50% (14 of 28) from the foul line and 23.8% (5 of 21) from long distance. And the Setters, whose tallest player on the roster is 6-foot-8, outrebounded the Orange 31 to 28.

After the opener against Binghamton, Syracuse will face Delaware State, Drexel and Monmouth before heading to Las Vegas for the Players Era Men’s Championship.

There, they will play last year’s NCAA Tournament runner-up – preseason No. 2 Houston – and No. 19 Kansas before meeting an opponent still to be determined.

Related Syracuse Stories

ON TV: A new television show will give fans an inside look at Syracuse women’s basketball this season. READ HERE

SYRACUSE FLIPS PENN STATE COMMIT: Alexander Haskell will play college football for the Orange instead of the Nittany Lions. READ HERE

CAPTURED IN ART: A mural of legendary basketball coach Jim Boeheim now graces a Syracuse building. READ HERE

 Join the Conversation

Remember to join our SYRACUSE on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Orange fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!