Charlotte, NC – SMU wants more during her first season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Syracuse got a taste of something good on the first day of the ACC tournament and would like to party so again.
No. 14 Seed Syracuse (14-18) meets sixth-seeded SMU (22-9) in a second round on Wednesday evening.
SMU, who got a first round, has work to do to strengthen their NCAA tournament tasks. This is something that must start with the program’s first game in the ACC tournament.
“I don’t think anyone is satisfied,” said SMU coach Andy Enfield.
Syracuse edged the Florida State 66-62 on Tuesday evening and ended the coaching career to retire Leonard Hamilton.
The orange avenged a regular seasonal loss in that game and aims to do the same against SMU. Barely a week ago, Mustangs pulled out a victory 77-75 against Syracuse after Keon Ambrose-Hylton’s late tip-in.
This type of result had defined the season for Syracuse, which endured many narrow defeats.
“We’ve been to them, and I think what we talked about before, we felt like in all these games, we made some stupid mistakes or didn’t come through,” said coach Adrian Autry.
SMU dragged with as many as 12 points in that game, while its biggest leadership was two points.
A few days later, SMU ended the regular season with Saturday’s loss 76-69 in Florida State. Mustangs have changed losses and victories over their last eight matches.
It will not be the first ACC tournament for SMU points leader Boopie Miller, who played last season for Wake Forest. He published 17 points in a second round victory against Notre Dame and then had six points in 33 minutes in a quarter final loss to Pitt.
Miller leads SMU with 13.4 points per match. He had 11 points last week against Syracuse in his first game back after an absence of five games.
Orange got 27 points from JJ Starling in the Florida State game. He got 11 of the team’s 12 points during a crucial second half.
“We try to survive and move on another day,” said teammate Jyare Davis. “JJ did a good job of taking over and we’re just happy for him.”
Syracuse had four players logged in at least 30 minutes Tuesday night. Orange may need to go deeper in the second round.
“Those guys, they had a good rhythm,” Autry said. “I thought the guys who came from the bench gave us a good elevator too. But I think this team is really good because we can go eight, nine guys, sometimes ten. It’s good to have. We have a little depth and I’m not afraid to use them.”
Wednesday’s winner meets third seeds Clemson on Thursday evening in the quarter finals.
-Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
