The Orange defeated Georgia Tech 82-72 on Tuesday.
The Syracuse University men's basketball team earned its 10th win of the season on Tuesday night, defeating Georgia Tech 82-72 in Atlanta, Georgia.
It was also the first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) win of the season for Adrian Autry's team, while the Yellow Jackets fell to 10-6 and 1-1.
Syracuse led by 14 at the half, but let the lead slip down to five with just under three minutes to play before pulling away again.
To the takeaways!
Donnie Freeman makes all the difference
After missing nine games with a right foot injury, the sophomore has now been back in the lineup for two straight. He scored 18 against Clemson and broke out with 27 more against Georgia Tech. He was 9-of-18 from the floor and 7-of-11 at the foul line, also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds.
Naithan George is finding his groove
The former Georgia Tech guard scored 17 points against his former teammates, marking the fifth straight game he's scored in double-figures. He shot 10-of-10 at the foul line and continues to be a weapon there while also pulling down two rebounds and generating six assists. He and Freeman give Autry's group a nice inside-outside combo.
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Others need to find there's as well
Freeman being back has clearly impacted some of the other scorers on this team. J.J. Starling scored just eight points on 2-of-10 shooting and Nate Kingz had just seven points in 37 minutes. Furthermore, neither of Sadiq White or Tyler Betsey played more than nine minutes or scored more than three points.
On that note
We'd like to see Autry give more opportunities to the bench players in an effort to get them going. Kiyan Anthony played 18 minutes and scored 11 points, but this team can't really operate with just six players who get consistent minutes. Betsey especially can provide scoring, but his opportunities are getting more limited since Freeman returned.
The turnovers are still too much
Syracuse had 15 turnovers in the win, with George creating six of them. This team is talented, but it's not good enough to have wasted and empty possessions. That has happened too often.
The free-throw shooting is improving
Syracuse went 23-of-31 at the line, marking another continued improvement. Freeman's 7-of-11 and George's 10-of-10 help, but even Starling went 4-of-6.
Up next
Syracuse will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at Pitt. Game time is 2 p.m. ET.
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