Syracuse Mens Basketball wins first ACC Tournament game in 3 years.

In Syracuse men’s basketball’s first-round matchup against Florida State today, the Orange narrowly squeaked out a 66-62. A lot of that was because of three players: JJ Starling, Eddie Lampkin, and Jyare Davis. The trio combined for 55 points. However, one place Syracuse and head coach Adrian Autry could not turn to often was at the bench. The Orange’s second unit had four points on a combined 1-8 shooting from the field. Coach Autry says he will still use the team’s depth as much as possible.

“I thought the guys who came off the bench gave us great energy. This team is really good because we can play nine or ten guys,” Coach Autry said. “I’m not afraid to use them.”

“The bench has to do more. The starters, and especially the bigs, held it down today,“ Orange guard Kyle Cuffe said in the locker room. “We understand how the refs are going to call these tournament games now. We can’t necessarily look for fouls for anticipate fouls. We just have to guard.”

Syracuse escapes with the four-point win after seeing a 16-point second-half lead dwindle to two. Another point in the regular season where Syracuse had a big win and fumbled it away was against SMU, but the Orange have a chance for revenge against the Mustangs on Wednesday at 9:30 PM.