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Following narrow defeats to Texas and Texas Tech in the Legends Classic, Syracuse bounced back with an 82-72 home win over Cornell last Wednesday. Despite pulling away in the final minutes, the Orange’s bout with the Big Red resembled their first three nonconference games.

To begin the season, SU defeated Le Moyne and Colgate by a combined six points. Then, before traveling to Brooklyn for the Legends Classic, it needed two overtime periods to beat Youngstown State. While Syracuse showed improvements against the Longhorns and Red Raiders, it quickly trailed 10-0 against Cornell to start the game.

Led by freshmen Donnie Freeman and Elijah Moore, who combined for 42 points, the Orange commanded a 39-28 halftime lead. Still, they couldn’t pull away in the second half. Cornell cut its deficit to four with 1:40 remaining, but a crucial Lucas Taylor block before Moore canned his fifth 3-pointer lifted Syracuse to victory.

Next, SU travels to Knoxville, Tennessee, for its first road game this season. Here’s everything to know about No. 3 Tennessee (7-0, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) before it hosts Syracuse (4-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) in the ACC-SEC Challenge:

All-time series

Tennessee leads 4-3.

Last time they played …

In its first game at the Maui Invitational last year, Syracuse faced then-No. 7 Tennessee on Nov. 20. The Orange led by eight points midway through the first half, but with Judah Mintz on the bench in foul trouble, the Volunteers went on a 19-6 run to close the half, giving them a 30-25 lead.

Led by Mintz’s 13 second-half points, SU trailed 52-48 with seven minutes remaining. From there, Tennessee embarked on a 21-8 run to close the game. In their 73-56 loss, the Orange shot 6-for-20 from 3 and recorded 15 turnovers.

KenPom Odds

Syracuse has a 3% chance to win, with a projected score of 83-62.

Alex Levy | Design Editor

The Volunteers report

Tennessee is fresh off an Elite Eight appearance and has made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons. While 2023-24 leading scorer Dalton Knecht is in the NBA, Josiah-Jordan James graduated and Jonas Aidoo transferred to Arkansas, the Volunteers replenished through the transfer portal.

Their leading scorers, fifth-year senior Chaz Lanier and senior Igor Milicic Jr. transferred from North Florida and Charlotte, respectively. Additionally, they added Ohio State transfer Felix Okpara, who has started all seven games. Tennessee also retained key pieces in Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack and Jordan Gainey to strengthen its rotation.

Despite their roster turnover, the Volunteers are KenPom’s No. 2 team in the country and remain undefeated. Tennessee’s 119.6 adjusted offensive efficiency is the 11th-best in the country, while its 88.7 adjusted defensive efficiency ranks second.

How Syracuse beats Tennessee

As seen by the KenPom odds, SU will need virtually everything to go its way to pull out an upset in Knoxville. To even have a chance against the Volunteers, Syracuse needs to start significantly stronger out of the gate than it has thus far.

In its first three nonconference games this season, SU let Le Moyne, Colgate and Youngstown State hang around as long as they did because it never set the tone early. Against Texas, the Orange couldn’t overcome their first-half deficit despite a strong final 20 minutes.

A day later, they played arguably their most competitive first half of the campaign but still trailed most of the way against Texas Tech, again falling short in a close loss. While Syracuse overcame an early double-digit deficit against Cornell last week, that likely won’t be the case against Tennessee. The Orange need to be flawless from the opening tip.

If Syracuse does get off to a hot start, it will need to hit 3-pointers to get momentum. However, it has knocked down just 27.0% of its triples through six games. The Volunteers’ defense allows only 54.7 points per game, the second-lowest clip in the country. The best way for the Orange to open up their offense is from 3-point range. Even if SU catches fire from 3, it’d have to hit at least 12 3s to hang with Tennessee, a clip it hasn’t exceeded since beating Miami last January.

Stat to know: 4

Knecht (21.7), Zeigler (11.8) and Aidoo (11.4) were Tennessee’s only players to score in double figures per game last season, accounting for 63.5% of its scoring. Thus far in 2024, the Volunteers have four players — Lanier (17.7), Milicic Jr. (12.7), Zeigler (11.7) and Gainey (10.4) — averaging double-digits, accumulating 65.3% of their scoring.

While Knecht, the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2024 first-round pick, was a big loss, Tennessee’s offense has been better in a small sample size this year with more balanced scoring. Though head coach Scott Barnes’ primary rotation has only extended to seven or eight players, his team has been among the best in the nation because each player gives quality minutes.

Player to watch: Chaz Lanier, guard, No. 2

Lanier spent his first four college seasons at North Florida before transferring to Tennessee for his final year of eligibility. The guard rarely played as a freshman before becoming a rotational piece over the next two years.

Once he became a full-time starter, Lanier played the best basketball of his career. After averaging a career-high 4.7 points per game as a junior, he more than quadrupled his average to 19.7 last season.

This came on the heels of shooting 51% from the field while making 44% of his 3s on 7.5 attempts per game. His success has carried over to the Volunteers, averaging 17.7 points while shooting 46.9% from the floor and draining 49.1% of his 7.9 triples attempted per game.

Published on December 2, 2024 at 9:42 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon