INDIANAPOLIS - Two weeks after Syracuse looked shaky in exhibition play, the Orange walked into a real test and nearly walked out with a win.
Indiana survived, 83-80, on Monday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, but Syracuse made the Hoosiers work for every inch. The Orange had a late lead, had a final chance, and had enough fight to make a game that once looked out of reach come down to the last shot.
Kiyan Anthony got the final look, but his long 3-pointer at the buzzer missed after Syracuse ran out of timeouts and had to improvise on an inbounds play with 4.7 seconds left. Indiana had already broken up the original setup, leaving Anthony with a tough heave that didn’t fall.
“A lot of good,” Syracuse coach Gerry McNamara said, “but I’m not in this for a lot of good.”
That line fit the night. Syracuse had moments to seize control, including a 66-61 lead after Anthony hit three free throws with 6:24 to go.
Indiana answered, then grabbed a 72-70 edge on Markus Burton’s 3-pointer with 2:43 left. Syracuse still had one more push in it, as Garwey Dual scored on a rebound putback to tie it at 74 with 1:35 remaining.
The Orange, which had beaten Siena by five in exhibition play and was hanging on by five late against Niagara, suddenly looked much sharper against a ranked-level opponent in a loud building. That was the biggest shift from October to Monday night.
“Tough loss,” McNamara said. “We want to win.
We’re here to win basketball games. I feel we’re getting better.”
Syracuse’s improvement wasn’t just about one or two hot hands, even though Anthony and Ryan Moesch certainly helped. Anthony, one of the Orange’s two returners from last season, came off the bench and scored 16 points. Moesch delivered a breakout performance with 19 points and six assists.
Moesch also brought a different edge to the offense. He attacked Indiana’s 7-foot-2 Samet Yigitoglu without hesitation and knocked down three 3-pointers, giving Syracuse a level of confidence it hadn’t shown often in the exhibitions.
“I think it was playing more disciplined for longer periods of time,” Moesch said of the Orange’s effort. “I think we’re getting there. It’s coming together.”
Anthony, meanwhile, looked far more polished than he did as a freshman. He went 4-for-9 from the field, made all six of his free throws, and added three assists against just one turnover.
The team-wide numbers told the story too. Syracuse held Indiana to 42% shooting, 26-for-62 from the floor, and the Orange’s defense looked far more connected than it had earlier in the month. Gavin Doty said Syracuse was moving “on a string together.”
The offense was the other major change. In three exhibition games, Syracuse shot just 26.5% from 3-point range. Against Indiana, the Orange shot 51% overall and made eight of 19 from deep, a 42.1% clip that kept them in the game all night.
When asked what had changed in two weeks, McNamara didn’t hand out a simple answer.
“I can’t tell you all,” McNamara said. “You know, some offensive and defensive, really just more offensive, but definitely adjustments.”
McNamara pointed to Syracuse’s first exhibition against Connecticut as part of the learning curve. That game was played in Uncasville, Conn., in an environment similar to Monday night’s road feel, and Syracuse lost by 20.
“I didn’t think we were quite ready for that game,” McNamara said of the trip to Uncasville, Conn., to play the Huskies. “I felt like we were ready for this game. We’ve talked about this for weeks, but it’s more so how we practiced and the adjustments we’ve made, how much better we’ve gotten since our third exhibition.
“My guys were ready to play.”
Now the Orange has to carry that into another early challenge. Syracuse faces St. John’s on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, another chance for McNamara’s young team to show that Monday wasn’t a one-night burst.
“I said when I got this job that we are going to be in position,” McNamara said. “We’re going to fight and be in position to win games. We lost a heartbreaker tonight, and now we’ve got to learn from it.
“Hopefully, as we move forward, we continue to get better and win these games.”
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