Syracuse finished their modest two-game exhibition slate at the JMA Wireless Dome on Wednesday night by defeating Slippery Rock, 96-51.
The Orange made 15 3-pointers, all in the game’s first 29 minutes, in cruising to victory.
Chris Bell hit five of the triples for the bulk of his team-high 17 points and Elijah Moore had four for his 12 points. Six other players had at least eight points for SU.
Here are some takeaways from the game:
Starting lineup looks closer to expected
The starting lineup was closer to what most people expected the Orange to use this season, as Jaquan Carlos and J.J. Starling started in the backcourt again, this time joined by a frontcourt of Chris Bell, Jyare Davie, and Donnie Freeman.
Lampkin limited
Eddie Lampkin Jr. did play for about five minutes in the first half, then did not return to the game after subbing out. Lampkin was suffering from some back soreness, which he noted is something that is an ongoing condition than something that will go away for good.
A dominant offensive performance
The Orange made seven straight shots from the floor as the backbone of a 21-3 run late in the first half that blew the game open.
For good measure, SU stretched that session of dominance to a 29-6 run over the seven minutes before halftime.
Slippery Rock goes cold
Slippery Rock played a supporting role in helping Syracuse put them away before the break. The guests shot 1-of-15 from 3-point-range in the opening half, including going 1-of-7 during that 29-6 streak by the Orange.
Late struggles
The Orange struggled late in the game, posting just 11 points in the last seven minutes before head coach Adrian Autry subbed in the walk-ons en masse.
The quintet on the floor for the bulk of that stretch was Kyle Cuffe Jr., Davis, Petar Majstorovic, Elijah Moore, and Lucas Taylor.
Without a true point guard on the floor, the offense seemed stuck in the mud for much of that span.
Majstorovic racks up the fouls
After getting whistled three times in 14 minutes of play against Clarion, Majstorovic committed four fouls in 20 minutes versus Slippery Rock. Three of the fouls were from not having his arms straight up, instead reaching in.
A stat speaks for itself
Presented without comment: Syracuse had three offensive rebounds in the first half. Two of them were credited after the first of two free throws was missed.
Another rebounding note
As Autry and multiple players noted in the postgame, rebounding overall was still an issue. SU gave up 17 offensive rebounds in the contest as Slippery Rock had a 30.4 percent offensive rebounding rate.
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