Syracuse smothers Binghamton with defense, claims easy opening win (Donna Ditota’s Quick Hits)

Syracuse, N.Y. — First game!

It’s always nice to get the exhibitions out of the way and get to the games that really matter.

Syracuse played Binghamton Monday night in the JMA Wireless Dome.

The most important thing you’ll read at this point is that JJ Starling played three official minutes, then hobbled off the floor and into the locker room. He returned to the SU bench, where he stayed for the rest of the game with a “lower-body injury.” More on him after the postgame.

First half: Syracuse 32, Binghamton 14. Final: Syracuse 85, Binghamton 47.

1/58

Here’s what happened:

Binghamton committed 15 first-half turnovers.

Fifteen!

SU had just three.

Because of that, the Bearcats took 14 fewer first-half shots than SU and were outscored 14-4 in points off turnovers.

SU tried a bunch of different defensive tactics. The Orange pressed full-court (not that much), it attacked the ball-handler in the half-court. It basically made life miserable for the Bearcats in that half. Binghamton took a total of 20 first-half shots, compared to 34 for SU.

Binghamton was 5-of-20 overall and 1-of-8 from the 3-point line.

With 5:38 left in the half, the Bearcats had managed a total of six points.

SU mostly maintained a level of defensive intensity for the second half, not easy to do considering how lopsided the score was. Adrian Autry, too, played most of his bench, aside from Tiefing Diawara and Aaron Womack. Luke Fennell, who missed the last exhibition with an apparent hip issue, played against Binghamton.

Final turnover numbers: Binghamton 22, Syracuse 5.

It was good that Syracuse looked decent on defense in the first half, because offensively it was a bit of a struggle.

SU went 1-for-12 from the 3-point line in the first 20 minutes. Tyler Betsey was 1-for-4, but that was better than anybody else.

Syracuse shot 38% in the first half, that number greatly influenced by its inability to make 3s. The Orange owned the paint, 22-8.

There were a couple plays that got a rise out of the dome crowd: Donnie Freeman blocked Jeremiah Quigley’s shot, sprinted out in transition and received a pass for a dunk from Naithan George. Starling had a nice pick and roll moment with William Kyle.

For the Kiyan Anthony curious, he had a nice first half.

Found Betsey for the only made 3 of the half, then finished two short jumpers in the lane.

He started the second half with Starling out with injury and converted a lefty drive early in the second half. Then he made a jump shot in the lane. Moments later, he cut backdoor and George found him with a pass for an easy bucket. Then he hit a late 3.

Anthony finished with 15 points. He was 6-of-10 overall, 1-of-3 from 3. Had three assists, three rebounds, no turnovers. Nice debut.

This was by far Naithan George’s best outing of the two practice games and the one real game.

He was more aggressive. He got into the lane and found guys (usually Kyle) for a lob or a finish inside. He was efficient in the scoring column, too.

Final line for SU’s starting PG: 14 points (6-of-9, 2-of-4 from 3), three rebounds, eight assists, one turnover.

Right now, Kyle seems to be the main PnR guy with George. Will be interesting to see if they pick and pop with Freeman.

The Orange shot the ball much more efficiently in the second half. They took a limited amount of 3s. Binghamton at times in this game tried a 1-3-1 zone and really, it was not very effective.

Syracuse was just much better in this game. Limited turnovers, played solid D. Won by a big margin over a team ranked 323rd in the preseason by Kenpom.

Not much to complain about.

NOTES: SU players wore patches on the right shoulder of their uniforms to honor Lawrence Moten and the dome held a moment of silence before game. ... Syracuse started 7-for-7 in the second half. ... Safe to say Betsey likes to shoot. (Not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with that.) Betsey finished with 10 points. He was 3-of-10 and 1-of-7. ... Kyle finished with 16 points. He was 8-for-9. All his buckets but one were dunks/finishes off lob passes. ... Freeman was terrific. He sat for a bit in the first half because of foul trouble. Binghamton had nobody to guard him. He led SU with 20 points in 25 minutes.