SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse defeated Florida State 94-86 after a strong shooting night at the JMA Wireless Dome on Tuesday.
Syracuse shot 59.7 percent from the field, and sophomore forward Donnie Freeman scored 25 points – his fifth 20-point performance of the season.
Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry could not be more pleased in Freeman.
“Donnie is just efficient. The one thing about him is he does a good job of getting to his spots, or he can get to the foul line,” Autry said. “When you have someone like that, a lot of times, it’s trying to get him the ball and trying to get him some space a little bit.”
The Orange shot 40.7 percent from three-point range. Tyler Betsey was the flamethrower that led the charge from downtown, making 6-of-8 3-point attempts. The sophomore forward’s six 3s were a career-high.
“My first two 3s – the second one especially, felt really good off my fingers,” Betsey said. “Once I hit that second, it was kind of just like I knew I was going to have a good game after that.”
However, Autry was not pleased with his team’s defense.
“The inconsistencies on defense was an issue,” Autry said. “Even though our offense has improved, we can’t let the defense slip.”
Nonetheless, the Orange have won three straight games in conference play, and their 12-5 record is the best start of the Adrian Autry era.
Syracuse (12-5, 3-1) will play at Boston College (7-10, 0-4) on Saturday. The game will air at 2pm on ACC Network.