The Syracuse University men's basketball team took down No. 13 Tennessee on Tuesday night at the JMA Wireless Dome, earning its biggest win of the season, and a much-needed win to quell a frustrated fan base.

There was a lot to like in the win, from Nate Kingz's 19-point breakout to J.J. Starling's 12-point game and William Kyle III's continued presence on the interior.

However, it should be noted, that if Syracuse is going to take the positive momentum from Tuesday's win into ACC play, they will have to improve something else (besides free-throw shooting).

Bench contributions. Scoring 62 points, with 55 of them coming from the starters, just isn't enough to win most games against good teams.

Let's acknowledge something, first:

Before we talk further about the bench, there are two things to point out:

1) Donnie Freeman still isn't playing. If and when he comes back, someone will be pushed to the bench, which will likely up the bench scoring on its own. Sadiq White Jr. is the most likely candidate. He just scored 10 points against the Volunteers. If he can keep up that same kind of productivity from the bench, it would go a long way toward adding depth for the Orange.

2) Tyler Betsey and Kiyan Anthony have both had double-digit scoring games this season, so the lack of scoring is not a habitual problem, but it was on Tuesday when Anthony had just seven and Betsey had just two.

Now to the issue at hand

Syracuse only played eight players in the win against Tennessee. Getting Freeman back will up the rotation to nine, which is a big deal in terms of keeping everyone fresh. Given how aggressive Syracuse plays on the defensive end, can they really afford to play four starters at 33 minutes or more in a game? That's what happened Tuesday.

Especially in Freeman's absence, Anthony and Betsey have to find a way to be more consistent scoring threats. Anthony hasn't been in double-figures in any of the last three games against NCAA Tournament-caliber teams and has seen his shooting numbers fall to 7-of-25 (28 percent) in those contests. He's also just 2-of-12 from three-point range in that time.

The Orange need him to be consistent offensively when he's on the floor, and the same can be said for Betsey. He doesn't always have to score 16 like he did against Houston, but putting up two isn't going to get it done either. 

Until Freeman comes back and provides more scoring on his own, Adrian Autry's team is going to have to get more from its impact freshmen. Can they get to 20 points a game between the two of them? That seems like a solid number to shoot for.

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