Syracuse didn’t just beat Central Connecticut State on Thursday night. It put together the kind of complete performance that can quiet a lot of early-season noise.
The Orange rolled to a 102-49 win inside the JMA Wireless Dome, improving to 2-0 and closing out the final buy game before the first two high-major matchups of the season. From the opening minutes to the final horn, Syracuse stayed in control and left with plenty of momentum heading into Monday’s game against Indiana in Indianapolis.
The offense was the headline. Syracuse reached 102 points in regulation for the first time since December 2024, but the efficiency numbers were even louder.
The Orange finished with 1.52 points per possession, their best mark since a 1.59 outing against Holy Cross in November 2016. They shot 76% on two-pointers and posted a 72 eFG%, which is Syracuse’s highest effective field goal percentage since March 2011 against DePaul.
The second half somehow topped the first. Syracuse had already put up 47 points while shooting 58% in the opening 20 minutes, but the Orange came out even hotter after halftime.
They scored 55 points in the second half, shot 70% from the field and went 6-for-11 from three. That produced 1.72 points per possession over the final 20 minutes.
It wasn’t a one-man show, either. Four Syracuse players finished with at least 14 points, with Gavin Doty leading the way with 18. Four more Orange players added eight points apiece, giving the night a balanced feel that never let CCSU settle in.
Mark Morano was a major part of that balance, and he kept finding space all night. Syracuse kept running actions to free up its best three-point shooter, and the looks were there over and over again.
Morano took nine threes, and most of them were clean. At one point he passed up a shot that wasn’t there and immediately heard about it.
“We run a lot of sets for Mark to get shots and you can see why,” Amarri Monroe said. “We’re living with any shot that he takes, no matter how far it is, no matter how close it is.”
CCSU didn’t have the size or quickness to get over screens, and Morano made them pay, knocking down four of his nine attempts from deep. Through two games, he has taken 17 threes and made seven, while turning it over just once.
“Whenever I see him have a sliver of openness,” Ryan Moesch said. “I’m gonna try to get him the ball.”
Syracuse also looked the part defensively and physically. The Orange did a strong job navigating CCSU’s screens, with Garwey Dual showing textbook technique on multiple possessions by staying attached and sliding back in front.
That helped keep the Blue Devils away from the rim for most of the night. Their average two-point attempt came from 9.7 feet, a figure that ranks in the first percentile, and more than half of their two-point shots came from mid-range.
The frontcourt brought its own edge. Luke Wilson, Sadiq White and Amarri Monroe all gave Syracuse force on both ends.
White, who had been criticized by McNamara for his rebounding in the exhibitions, grabbed nine boards in the first half and followed that with his second straight double-digit rebounding game. Monroe’s physicality showed up constantly, from hard drives on offense to tough plays on defense.
Wilson didn’t pile up rebounds, but he still made his presence felt. He scored 14 points on only six shot attempts and used his strength to work over the CCSU front line.
That physical test gets tougher next. Indiana brings a different kind of challenge with two seven-footers in the frontcourt, but White said Syracuse will be ready.
“Bring physicality,” he said. “Meet them. We’re not gonna back down from nothing.”
For McNamara, the biggest difference from Monday night was simple: Syracuse sustained it. After being frustrated by the second half against Niagara, he had far less to gripe about this time. The Orange controlled the game for all 40 minutes, something they had not done in any of their first four games.
“I thought we played more disciplined for longer stretches,” McNamara said Thursday. “(On Monday) I just feel like we played the score.
It means you’re not playing as hard as you should. We didn’t play the score tonight.
We played the possession. And that was what I was happy about.”
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