SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse University men's basketball dropped a 70-69 contest on Saturday night against Hofstra at the JMA Wireless Dome. With the loss, the Orange are now 6-4 on the season. This was the first loss at home for head coach Adrian Autry's team.

While most people will presume this is a bad loss because it came against a mid-major, it should be noted that Hofstra also beat Pitt earlier this week. They are 8-4 and no pushover.

After the game, Autry was frustrated, taking blame upon himself for being unable to get his team to play with the consistent effort and attention to detail that he wants.

Hofstra went a whopping 12-of-18 from three-point range (67 percent) in the win.

By the end of the press conference, Autry had changed his tone about effort, but he was still very much upset about the "little things." He elected not to talk much about the controversial officiating, electing to take ownership of what his team could control.

"I wish I could answer that question, but I'm not. We have to take accountability, and I'm going to take accountability...We have to be able to be accountable for the things we can control, which is our effort and our attention to detail...it was more of our attention to detail in this game. Knowing who the guys who can make shots are, who are the guys who are drivers. I didn't think we did a good job of getting to those guys, and those guys got loose, and that hurt us."

On the positive side of things, Syracuse got a balanced scoring effort again, with five players registering in double-figures. JJ Starling led the way with 15 points and Kiyan Anthony played well, scoring 12 of 5-of-11 shooting. He also saw more consistent minutes down the stretch and had the ball in his hands on the controversial last offensive play, which you can see here.

Syracuse will have a few days off before hosting Mercyhurst on Dec. 17. Conference play begins on Dec. 31 against Clemson.

Inside the box score

--Syracuse shot 46 from the floor and 35 percent from three-point range.

--Hofstra shot 49 percent from the floor, in addition to their work from three. 

--Syracuse, the worst free-throw shooting team in the nation, went 9-of-16 at the line (56 percent). However, it should be noted that William Kyle III hit two crucial free-throws to put the Orange up 68-67 with a minute to play. Hofstra hit a big three moments later to take a 70-68 lead. Sadiq White Jr. then went 1-of-2 at the line later to bring us to our final margin.

--Syracuse had nine turnovers versus 10 for the Pride.

--Cruz Davis has 22 points to lead the Pride.

More Syracuse stories

Adrian Autry wants his guards more assertive in this particular area

Syracuse can't afford to ignore poor free-throw shooting

Autry looking more consistent effort, even after victory

Join the Conversation

Remember to join our SYRACUSE on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Orange fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!