SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse men's basketball team was upset by mid-major Hofstra on Saturday night at the JMA Wireless Dome. The 70-69 loss sent the Orange to 6-4 on the season while improving Hofstra to 8-4 under head coach Speedy Claxton.

The loss was frustrating, especially on home court, and it will impact an Orange team already lacking a quality NCAA Tournament resume come March.

So much energy is (correctly) spent on the Orange's inability to hit free throws, but there was something else that became abundantly clear about this team on Saturday night.

They have to be able to get out in transition 

As of this moment, without big man Donnie Freeman, the Orange are not built to play in the half-court. They just aren't.

There isn't enough movement off the ball to create great scoring opportunities, and the team isn't good enough from beyond-the-arc to just swing the ball around the perimeter and shoot. Furthermore, as one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country, they can't be counted on to just get in the paint and end up at the line.

No, it's evident that Syracuse needs to use its defense and turn it into offense. 

The best quality about this group? Their speed, length and toughness defensively. And those qualities obviously help limit points on the other end, but if Syracuse is able to force turnovers or generate a defensive rebound, then they can run and use that speed in the open floor.

Hofstra shot nearly 50 percent from the floor on Saturday, and they were 67 percent from three-point range, meaning they A) scored and B) were able to set up their defense far too often. Syracuse had a hard time in the second half generating opportunities, especially as Hofstra sat back in a zone.

Kiyan Anthony weighs in on that

I had an opportunity after the game to ask the talented freshman about this exact situation, and while he agreed that transition is a good way to play, his team is capable of scoring in half-court situations.

"It definitely changes the offense as far as transition points, but like I said, we practice zone every day. We have a whole segment of practice where we play 5-on-5 against each other when we're playing zone. So, it's like we do great against each other in practice, but this is the first time we've been tested with a good zone, I would say, for a lot of the game. Some teams threw it in there for one possession, but for most of the game, they were in zone and we've just got to do a better job executing like we do in practice."

Up next

The Orange will be be back home again on Dec. 17 against Mercyhurst. We'll have live coverage from that game with our own Tom Goslowski, who you can follow @TomGozz. 

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