No one is asking the Orange for a miracle, just consistent effort.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - There's been a lot of talk over the last few days about Adrian Autry's assertion that the Syracuse offense isn't broken and whether that's true or not.
There's also been a lot of talk about Donnie Freeman's injury and when he will return to the lineup.
As the Orange get ready to take on Northeastern on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. ET), let's put all that away and focus on just one thing.
The Orange need to play exceptionally hard.
Heading into this game, that's the only thing I'm asking for. Forget three-point percentage, free-throw percentage, shot selection, turnovers, minutes played, forget it all. Just play hard.
Here's why
Focusing on effort? That sounds very high school-ish, I get it. I really do. That said, this Syracuse team is at its best when it's flying all over the court. They are at their best when they are overwhelming teams athletically and when they are speeding teams up.
It's truly the thing they do best. Speeding teams up, forcing turnovers, getting out in transition, running the floor, generating easy shot opportunities and having fun doing it.
If the Orange are able to do that, a lot of the rest should take care of itself. If they can get in transition, they won't have to play in the half-court as much and they won't have to worry about things like ball movement. Just get out, be athletic and create some havoc.
It worked in a tough overtime loss against No. 3 Houston, and it worked in a win against No. 13 Tennessee. Both of those games were played without Freeman.
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Easier said than done
The idea of playing hard sounds easy, so why am I bringing it up? Because Autry is bringing it up. He's spoken after a win against St. Joseph's and after a loss against Hofstra about the lack of "level-five" energy. The players have spoken about it as well.
After the loss against Hofstra on Dec. 13 William Kyle III talked about coming out flat and the need to respect non-conference opponents.
"We can't just show up. We can't show up. We have to respect our opponent. We can't get too high on a big win and then do this. It's unacceptable for Syracuse. It's unacceptable for everybody on the team. It's unacceptable for me - I have to do more as well. We have to be a lot better, a lot better for sure."
Even in a win against Mercyhurst on Wednesday, the Orange looked flat at times.
Is there a rationale for it?
First off, it's human nature to play down to your competition. Syracuse has to figure out a way to combat that.
Second off, it's always tougher to play when students are on winter break and attendance numbers sag. The weather has been poor, impacting fans abilities to come out. There just hasn't been as much juice in the JMA Wireless Dome lately - but that can't matter. The Orange have to take it upon themselves to create their own energy.
And that starts on Saturday against the Huskies.
Need to know
Syracuse is 7-4 on the season while Northeastern is 4-5.
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