Syracuse will compete in its second and final exhibition game of the preseason on Monday against the Owls of Southern Connecticut State University.
The Orange enter the contest coming off a promising performance in their first exhibition matchup against Southern New Hampshire University, beating the Penmen 84-54 on November 1.
One bright spot of the Orange was its defense, as the team combined for 16 blocks, 10 steals, and forced 20 turnovers in the game. Defense is an aspect of Syracuse's game which they look to improve on from a season ago. Although The Orange were in the top-five in both steals and blocks in the ACC last year, it came up 13th in the conference in defensive rebounds and 140th in total scoring defense in the country.
Much of the defensive success against Southern New Hampshire came from the two tallest players on the Syracuse roster, Paschal Chukwu and Bourama Sidibe. Each had six blocks in the game and combined for 14 of the team's 54 rebounds.
SU vs. S. Conn. St. @ 7:00 pm. Countdown to Tip-off starts at 6:30 pm on 88.3 WAER.
Syracuse will likely use the exhibition matchup to work on the defense, as Southern Connecticut State ranked outside the top-100 in scoring offense in Division II last season.
The most impressive performance from Syracuse's first game of the year came from freshman Oshae Brissett. The Canadian-born Brissett put up 17 points in just 27 minutes of action to go along with 11 total rebounds. Brissett will likely have to go up against Southern Connecticut State senior Jerry Luckett Jr. As the leading returning scorer for the Owls, Luckett Jr. is coming off a season where he averaged 15.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
The Orange will take this exhibition game as their last chance to prepare for their season opener Friday, November 10 against Cornell in the Carrier Dome.