The first two tests of Syracuse’s season went as planned, with two comfortable wins — Lafayette and Drexel — serving as tuneups for more difficult opponents in the future. That point hasn’t arrived just yet, but the Orange will take one step closer to the challenges in their schedule when they host Colgate (1-2) on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. Following that game, SU will travel to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, facing VCU on Wednesday before playing two undetermined opponents the next two days.

The Raiders have lost two consecutive games since opening the 2021-22 campaign with a seven-point victory over Northeastern. Jordan Burns, their top scorer, graduated from last year’s team that made the NCAA Tournament. Still, senior guard Nelly Cummings has averaged 21.3 points per game to start the year.

Here’s what our beat writers think will happen in the Carrier Dome when the Orange (2-0) face the Raiders.

Andrew Crane (2-0)
Freshening up
Syracuse 75, Colgate 68

After Colgate lost to NC State by just three points during the first week of the season, I’ll admit that I was slightly tempted to pick the upset here. But, as Syracuse will find out in February, should the Raiders defeating a Wolfpack group missing Manny Bates actually be considered that big of an upset? I’d argue no. Then the Raiders crashed against Cornell on Tuesday, falling by 10 though it was actually quite worse as the Big Red led by 16 with just over two minutes left, a fact that made it easier to predict this outcome.

Colgate likes to play slow on offense, and the 2-3 zone naturally slows down opponents, so look for Syracuse to possibly try and speed the Raiders up in their offensive sets. That’d force turnovers, deep and unsatisfactory 3-pointers, and empty possessions that’d allow SU’s efficient offense to build an early lead. I think Joe Girard III finally misses his first 3-point attempt of the season on Saturday, but look for the Orange to get ahead early, hold off a late push and move to 3-0 on the season — just like they’re supposed to.

Roshan Fernandez (2-0)
Handling business
Syracuse 81, Colgate 73

Colgate made the NCAA Tournament last year and nearly upset NC State in its second game of the season this year. The Raiders lost top-scorer Jordan Burns from last year but returned all of their other top scorers. According to Bart Torvik, Colgate returns 81.1% of its minutes from last season.

But Syracuse is a team that’s garnering AP Top 25 votes. It’s a team that has flashed potential early in the season, though it’s hard to judge how far that potential can take them until the Orange face higher level competition. Syracuse needs to be alert and play better than it did during the first half against Drexel, and this should be a straightforward contest. Colgate will be another test, but one that Syracuse should manage to handle its business just fine.

Gaurav Shetty (2-0)
Working out the kinks
Syracuse 78, Colgate 69

Syracuse opened its season with two relatively easy wins. Against Drexel, though, Syracuse found itself down at halftime for the first time of the year. The Orange required some tweaks at halftime and came out on a 16-6 run to assert their dominance. Colgate might be the toughest test so far of this new season. The Raiders made last season’s NCAA Tournament as a 14-seed and just fell to NC State in a close 77-74 game.

If the Orange come out in the first half the same way they did against Drexel, this game might have a bit more upset potential. I don’t see that happening, however, and Syracuse has enough firepower to mount a potential comeback. The opponents have slowly been rising in difficulty, but Syracuse should do enough to top Colgate on Saturday.

Published on November 17, 2021 at 10:11 pm