Syracuse Men's Basketball: Four Takeaways From High-Major Loss to Indiana

The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team dropped to 2-1 on the season on Monday night, losing a hard-fought 83-80 battle with the Indiana Hoosiers in Indianapolis.

Indiana is now 3-0 on the young season.

Here's what you need to know from the neutral-site contest, which was effectively a road game. The takeaways are in no particular order.

Make no mistake: This game was never a blowout, but regardless, Syracuse wasn't able to build upon an early lead, and they weren't able to hold a late one.

The Orange were up 18-11 in the first half and they were up 66-61 in the second half. We talked about the inability to separate in the preseason, and we did the same thing on Opening Night. The ability to "finish" is something that is learned, and the Orange haven't learned it yet.

This was the coming out party for freshman point guard Ryan Moesch, at least for America at-large. Moesch played 26 minutes, scoring a team-high 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting. He hit three 3-pointers while also dishing out six assists vs. just one turnover.

Kiyan Anthony continued the strong start to his season, scoring 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting, and he went 6-of-6 at the foul line. He had three assists and his newfound physicality also was present in multiple takes to the basket.

The SU bench outscored Indiana's 40-11.

The Orange were out-rebounded by nine in this contest (37-28). Guys you expect to be strong on the glass just weren't. Sadiq White Jr. had only three while Luke Wilson had just four. Amarri Monroe had only two. Anthony had zero. The Orange need more from that quartet of upperclassmen/returners.

It's hard to complain about a team's offensive performance when it scores 80 points, so this is more of a note than a criticism. Gavin Doty, who might be this team's best player, had just five points. Mark Morano, who is this team's best shooter, had just five as well. He only played eight minutes because of foul trouble.

On Monday the offense got away with it, but the Orange won't win many games when this duo only scores 10 points.

Syracuse is back in action on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m. ET) against St. John's at Madison Square Garden. This will be the revitalization of a former Big East rivalry, which Syracuse is also doing with Rutgers and Providence this year. It's unclear if Aiden Tobiason will play.