SU Mens Basketball Continues Non-Conference Slate with Sunday’s Drexel Match

Syracuse men’s basketball started the 2021-22 season on a laurels. In Tuesday’s 97-63 win over Lafayette, Orange scored early and often. Junior guard Joe Girard III took the lead by leading the team with 20 points. Five SU players finished with double-digit points totals, including new transfer forwards Cole Swider and Jimmy Boeheim. Over 19,000 fans turned up for the game in Domes’ first game at full fan capacity since February 29, 2020.

After an easier opening test at Lafayette, Syracuse now turned his attention to Drexel. The Dragons started their season 1-0 by crushing Division III Neumann University 103-74 on Tuesday night. Graduate forward James Butler led the way for Drexel, scoring 16 points leading the team on a 7-for-8 shot. Overall, the Dragons shot 55.6% as a team from the field and recorded their first 100-point game since November 2018.

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Drexel’s marksman squad may present a tougher challenge for Syracuse than Lafayette did. Although SU’s offensive prowess stole the headlines on Tuesday, head coach Jim Boeheim noted a few things to like about his team’s defensive performance.

Our defense is good. They are a team [Lafayette] who scores a lot of points and can actually shoot, says Boeheim. I thought it was a really good game in terms of working on our defense and getting our moves down.

Syracuse needs to play a good defense against Drexel. The Dragons qualified for last year’s NCAA tournament for the first time since 1996 by winning the Colonial Athletics Association championship. As the 16th seed, the Dragons were defeated in a first-round loss against the No. 1 featured Illinois. However, the substantial talent of that squad has returned for the season.

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Drexel brings back two of his top scorers from last year in the aforementioned Butler and Camren Wynter, the 62-185-pound senior guard who racked up 13 points and eight assists in the season opener. To slow Butler and Wynter, SU needs to rebound like they did against Lafayette. Syracuse outperformed Leopard 48 to 30 on Tuesday night.

ESPN gave Orange an 87.7% chance of beating the Dragons on Sunday in the first showdown between the two teams since December 22, 2010. That year, SU No. 5 cruised past Drexel 93-65 at the Dome to move to 13-0 on the season.

The opening tip for Sunday’s game is 5:00 PM ET. WAER coverage starts at 4:30pm with Countdown to Tipoff.