Adrian Autry benched his best player to get out of a rut. It worked.
Adrian Autry decided to bench Donnie Freeman a few days ago, but Syracuse still delivered a complete performance against Notre Dame. Tara Deluca | Asst. Photo Editor
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The conversation was simple, but the implications were enormous. Adrian Autry was about to bench his best player.
During practice a few days before SU hosted Notre Dame on Saturday, Syracuse’s head coach, amid the longest losing streak he’s overseen since taking the job three years ago, pulled star forward Donnie Freeman aside to say he’s being benched against the Fighting Irish.
Autry boiled it down to matchups, feeling freshman forward Sadiq White Jr. would give SU a better shot against ND’s starting five. Freeman didn’t flinch in the face of a shock benching. In fact, he encouraged Autry’s bold ploy.
“This is what we’re going to do for this game,” Autry told his 6-foot-9 sophomore.
“I’m with it,” Freeman responded. “Let’s go out and be victorious.”
When asked, Freeman didn’t specify what the specific matchup problem was for Autry to keep him out of the starting five. Whatever it was, though, Autry’s plan worked. With Freeman on the bench, Syracuse (13-9, 4-5 Atlantic Coast) delivered one of its most complete performances of the season, beating Notre Dame (11-11, 2-7 Atlantic Coast) 86-72 in the JMA Wireless Dome.
Freeman only shot 1-for-4 from the field in 22 minutes against the Fighting Irish. He tallied a season-low seven points after entering Saturday’s contest with an average of 19.2 points per game. He said the toughest part of sitting on the bench was finding a rhythm once he stepped on the floor. He felt slow and not like himself. He never hit his stride the whole game.
But what went on in the background — the Orange’s first home win in 18 days to snap a four-game losing skid — is all Freeman cared about.
“That’s really all I want,” Freeman said in SU’s locker room Saturday night. “To get things rolling again.”
Syracuse played fantastically in a variety of avenues versus Notre Dame; it shot 57% from the field, got 49 combined points from Nate Kingz (28) and J.J. Starling (21), held ND to 27% 3-point shooting and totaled its second-most assists in a game this season with 21.
Still, why bench your best player?
Heading into Saturday night, it seemed Freeman was the one piece you wouldn’t mess with if you’re Autry — a third-year head coach sitting firmly on the hot seat whose team had floundered over the past two weeks. Freeman led SU with 19.2 points per game before it faced ND.
Doubling as Syracuse’s top defender, at least per EvanMiya’s individual player ratings system, Freeman brings immense value every time he’s on the floor.
However, Autry said after Tuesday night’s embarrassment — SU’s 88-68 loss to NC State on the road — that “everything is on the table” from here on out. Intuition would lead one to think that point guard Naithan George, who has one of the highest turnover rates in the country, or senior guard J.J. Starling, who’s struggled to score consistently, would be potential odd men out.
Nobody’s mind shifted to Freeman, who, at times, has been Syracuse’s lone beacon of positivity.
But, as Autry said after the loss to the Wolfpack, he was displeased with the Orange’s effort in their last game and felt that White was the only player who actually tried. He didn’t say if that factored into Freeman’s benching against Notre Dame, though it’s certainly notable.
“It was nothing but strategic game-planning,” Autry said of benching Freeman. “He was ready to go. He was ready (to play). That was the great thing about it. Having him come off the bench was a big boost for us today.”
Freeman confirmed he had no ill will toward Autry nor his decision.
“He just did something that he felt was going to be best for the team today,” Freeman said of Autry. “(The benching) was more matchup-based than anything, honestly. I didn’t have issues with it. My main goal is to win over everything, and that’s what we did today.”
Part of the reason could have been ND’s small, guard-heavy rotation and emphasis on shooting the 3-ball. The Fighting Irish ranked in the top quarter of the nation with a 3-point percentage above 35% entering Saturday’s contest. They went 6-for-22 against Syracuse, as White sometimes stepped out to the perimeter to fend off 3-point heaves — which worked effectively.
White, who finished with five points, six rebounds and four fouls in 19 minutes versus the Fighting Irish, said he also found out from Autry a few days ago that he’d be starting. He’d already started 10 games as a freshman this campaign, so this wasn’t a foreign world to him.
White took the opportunity with pride and said his goal was to help rebound and defend with tenacity, aka the “little things” that have caused SU to slide down the ACC leaderboard in recent weeks.
“You just gotta be ready,” White said. “I just went in there as hard as I can.”
As for Freeman, he never found his place within Syracuse’s offense. The Orange lived behind the arc, as Kingz and Starling buried a combined eight 3s, but the ball rarely got worked to Freeman and William Kyle III down low.
Simultaneously, SU’s supporting cast had its best offensive showing of the year. George didn’t turn the ball over once and racked up 10 assists. Starling posted a season-high in points, including a team-best 17 in the first half alone. Kingz put up a game-high and nearly dropped 30 points, a total he almost hit on Jan. 17 against Boston College, too. Kyle added 10 points and eight boards.
No star player wants to take a backseat. Freeman willingly did so versus Notre Dame, and it resulted in the Orange getting their mojo back.
Autry and Freeman were adamant this change likely isn’t permanent. But as Syracuse approaches what Freeman called its most important week of the year — road battles against North Carolina (Feb. 2) and Virginia (Feb. 7) — it’s clear the Orange will play any and every card possible for them to turn their season around.
Freeman said Saturday’s win was necessary for the team to reset after a heavily criticized two-week stretch of losses.
“We’re ready to make our run now,” Freeman said.
