Syracuse Men's Basketball: Ryan Moesch's Improvement a Big Storyline in Latest Win

The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team won in impressive fashion over Central Connecticut State on Thursday night, rocking the Blue Devils 102-49 at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Our own Brady Farkas offered up his takeaways from the Orange's 53-point win, which moved Syracuse to 2-0 under new head coach Gerry McNamara.

Freshman guard Ryan Moesch scored the first points in his collegiate career as nine different players scored in this contest.

Moesch's improved performance in game two, in comparison to his lackluster performance in game one, was an encouraging sign for the group.

Moesch's continued development will be an interesting key to the team's success moving forward this season. 

During his collegiate debut on Monday, Moesch struggled scoring from the field. In that big win over New Haven, he had five assists but shot 0-for-8 from the field. In the postgame press conference, head coach Gerry McNamara said he thought Moesch played "terrible."

Well, as noted above, Moesch's individual output in game two was an improvement from game one. The 6-foot-1 guard scored six points, dished out seven assists, grabbed three rebounds, and posted two steals.

McNamara was more complimentary this time around:

"I told him the other night. I thought he played terrible from what I expect from him. I recruited the heck out of that kid. There is no one who believes in him more than me. Except himself. Ryan Moesch is a confident young player....he makes everything go, he pushes pace, once he starts scoring you have an elite player."

Moesch played 27 minutes on Thursday, which led the Orange. McNamara is clearly trying to get him more minutes so he can continue to accelerate his growth. Moesch has become a primary ballhandler, and his speed with the ball in his hands is a change of pace from Garwey Dual.

To McNamara's point, Moesch already has the ability to get downhill and create for his teammates, but once he starts to find things for himself offensively, he'll be even more dynamic. And the more depth that Syracuse has, the better chance it has of finding success inside Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play.

Syracuse is back in action on Monday night when it takes on the Big Ten's Indiana Hoosiers. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. ET  SyracuseRoundtable will provide takeaways immediately following the conclusion of the contest.

Orange fans will have to wait almost two weeks before they see this team back in action at the JMA Wireless Dome. Syracuse's next scheduled home game is set for Nov. 18 it takes on the Cornell Big Red. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. ET.