SU is 4-15 on the road the last 2 years. What’s behind the struggles?
Syracuse’s 88-83 loss to Wake Forest Saturday was its sixth-straight road loss, and dropped its away record over the last two years to 4-15. Courtesy of Scott Schild | Syracuse.com
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — One of the first lowlights of Adrian Autry’s head coaching career came in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when he apologized profusely after a blowout loss in his inaugural season. He said a performance of that nature won’t be tolerated. SU had since gone 6-16 on the road entering Saturday.
With five-straight road losses, Syracuse wouldn’t be expected to win a road game, even if it was played inside an empty middle school gymnasium. And Saturday, after a sixth-straight road loss, LJVM Coliseum became his soapbox yet again.
“We’ve been inconsistent all year,” Autry candidly said postgame. “That’s reflected in our record.”
Syracuse (15-14, 6-10 Atlantic Coast) collapsed in the second half, falling 88-83 to Wake Forest (15-14, 6-10 Atlantic Coast), dropping its third-straight game. The Orange are now 4-15 on the road over the last two seasons, and all four wins are against teams with a KenPom rating of 99 or worse.
The poor statistics are just another thorn in the side for Autry in his third campaign. SU hasn’t won a game since Jan. 10 against Pitt. In their eight road games, the Orange are 2-6 with a -72 margin.
“Obviously, it’s very hard to win on the road,” Autry said. “And we’ve been in games we’ve had a chance to win. And it always comes down to those small plays, those toughness plays.”
Losing on the road in a jam-packed Cameron Indoor Stadium to one of the best teams in the country is one thing. Flailing in the confines of LJVM to one of the ACC’s worst teams is a far different story.
Wake Forest’s arena hosted just about 9,000 fans Saturday, and wasn’t close to filled in. Spots of orange trickled throughout the stands for local and traveling SU fans. The Orange have played in far crazier atmospheres this season, especially right down Tobacco Road.
Fast-forward to just about 10 minutes left in the contest. While Syracuse led by four at halftime, the Demon Deacons took control. A horrid Naithan George turnover along the baseline allowed Wake Forest’s Juke Harris to take an easy layup. Sebastian Akins then drilled a turnaround jumper to make it 70-65 WF, bringing the once-dormant crowd to its feet.
The Demon Deacons’ train didn’t stop there. Tre’Von Spillers delivered two emphatic dunks minutes later, putting the Orange to rest for good.
Autry knows this is different. He’s running out of time. And as a result, he let loose.
In an impassioned postgame press conference, the third-year head coach challenged his team’s toughness. He said the word a dozen times to get his point across. Autry said he and his coaching staff have been patient, and have worked on defense with all the right information. But he said, at a certain point, it doesn’t matter how many drills are practiced or clipboards are drawn on. It comes down to ‘do you want to do it?’
Of course, this isn’t Autry’s first rodeo with a road loss. January ones to Boston College and NC State showed where SU belongs in the ACC. More blowout defeats to North Carolina, Virginia and Duke further pushed the Orange down the totem pole.
The issue in most aspects has been similar to last year’s: Syracuse simply can’t play defense. In one sequence in the second half, SU allowed WF to score on 13-of-14 possessions.
Postgame, both Nate Kingz and Sadiq White Jr. said the phrase “hanging our hats on defense,” emphasizing that the Orange have done the opposite en route to their demise. But how can a team that prided itself on defense early in the season see its identity collapse so dramatically?
Kingz, who is often on the opponent’s best guard, isn’t sure what changed. He said defense is still stressed daily at practice, and the squad studies the opponents as individuals and as a team, pinpointing possible adjustments along the way.
Even as senior guard J.J. Starling tallied just two points — the least in a full game in his Syracuse career — and SU’s 10 first-half 3s dwindled to just three in the second half, Autry looked far away from the offense.
“That’s not the story. That’s not the story,” Autry said. “The story is, you got to be tough. You’ve got to make plays when they need to be made. It’s not always offense. Until that mindset changes, we’re going to be inconsistent. And it can change, and it should change, because we’ve been too close, too many times, too many times.”
Autry feels like he’s talked about these things all year. He’s right. In his media day press conference to start the season, Autry said SU needs to “grow a lot” on the defensive end, and that side of the floor was worked on a lot in the offseason. He joked with a smile that the Orange scored enough points but couldn’t stop anybody. A year later, even with a rebuilt roster, the change simply hasn’t been made.
With just two regular-season games to play and March Madness hopes bleak, Autry isn’t giving up just yet. He made it clear he’ll continue to push his team until the final horn sounds. Though candidly, he said he’s not sure how many times he can continue to deliver the same message without it being received.
“I’m going to take my accountability for sure. I got to do a better job to get them to understand,” Autry said before a 10-second pause. “But the toughest part is just you’ve got to have it, you’ve got to have it.”
With just about a minute to go, Demon Deacons’ fans broke out into a Wake Forest chant. The fanbase, which saw their team collapse from a back-to-back 20-win seasons to a bottom-tier ACC squad this year, had something to celebrate. A victory.
Don’t be mistaken. This was no raucous crowd breathing down the Orange’s necks in hostility. This was Syracuse doing what it does: beating itself on the road.
