Four takeaways from Syracuse basketball’s 97-46 rout over Bucknell

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team moved to 4-1 on the early season, dismantling the Bucknell Bison 97-46 on Saturday. It was one of the better offensive performances Syracuse has put together in recent years, even if Bucknell is a sub-100 KenPom team.

The Orange will now switch gears and get ready for a two-game stretch away from home as the team heads down to New York City next week for the Preseason NIT Tip-Off. Before we turn the page though, here are our takeaways from the game.

Outstanding Offense

Syracuse scored 97 points against Bucknell while shooting 56.1 percent from the floor and 48.3 percent from deep. The Orange played about as well as one could expect on that end of the floor. Buddy Boeheim scored a career-high 22 points on 6-8 shooting from deep while Elijah Hughes scored 21 points on 5-10 shooting from range.

Maybe, just maybe, those reactions after the Virginia game were a little overblown...

As a team, Syracuse dished out 25 assists on 37 made buckets. The Orange also got out on the break, scoring 28 fast break points. SU also converted 37 points off of Bucknell’s 23 turnovers.

The defense helped the offense in this game. Speaking of..

Zoned Out

Jim Boeheim will tell you Syracuse has a lot of work to do on the defensive end and he’s right. But against Bucknell, the 2-3 zone forced 23 turnovers as mentioned and limited the Bison to a paltry 26.3 percent field goal percentage and 12.1 percent shooting from the three.

Perhaps going somewhat unnoticed, Syracuse also won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding Bucknell 44-32.

The defense might have a long way to go, but it was good on Saturday.

Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images

Buddy Buckets

How good is Buddy Boeheim? With shades of Andy Rautins, Buddy shot 6-8 from deep in this one with a career-high in made 3s and points scored (22). He’s not just a shooter, either.

Boeheim dished out 4 assists and grabbed 2 steals out of the zone in just 24 minutes.

He is the best guard on this Syracuse basketball team.

Taco Time

Someone needs to tell my man Malcolm Huckaby to read TNIAAM. Taco Time is unlocked when Syracuse scored 70 points, not 100, as he suggested on the broadcast.

We can forgive Malcolm because he had nice things to say about Syracuse and in fairness, the old promotion was 100 points in his playing days.

By the by, can we bring back the fries promotion? Does anybody actually redeem their free taco at Taco Bell? Let us know in the comments section.

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