Six takeaways from Syracuse basketball’s 115-56 win over the Siena All-Stars in Italy

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team remained undefeated in Italy (3-0), taking down the Siena Saints All-Stars by a final score of 115-56 on Saturday. Most of you were probably sleeping given the 6 a.m. ET tip, but the Orange continued to play well abroad.

As stated earlier this week, it’s probably best to take these games with a grain of salt considering the circumstances. But Syracuse has looked good during the foreign tour. Here are our takeaways from the third game of the trip.

Offense

Syracuse scored over 100 points for the second consecutive game, looking to push the pace off of defensive rebounds and forced turnovers. Jalen Carey relishes that role of being able to get the ball and run.

But in the half court, the Orange have been running solid offensive sets too (more to come on that). Elijah Hughes might be the closest thing to a Tyus Battle, one-on-one type of player, but I think this is a team that’s going to have to run an offense to score as opposed to needing one player to go out and create. This shined through today as SU had six players score in double-figures and 10 players scored eight points or more.

A balanced attack could end up being a great thing for the Syracuse.

Jalen Carey

Speaking of Carey, he rushed out of the gates to score 11 points in the first quarter. He looks much improved at the point guard spot with a tight handle. Nobody on Siena could keep up with his quickness today, but Carey got to the rim at ease and finished well around the hoop.

His decision-making in the past two games has been solid and he’s rebounding well from the guard spot in the zone to boot. He finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in just 19 minutes on the day.

Man down!

This is what it looks like to get run over by 6-foot-10 Bourama Sidibe.

Just before the half, Sidibe made a diving save by the sideline and took down the ref in the process. He looked to be okay after the play.

The ref eventually looked fine, too.

Jokes aside, Sidibe was a good sport about the whole thing and dapped up the referee following the play (and the saved possession for Syracuse!). Hats off to Sidibe for showing good sportsmanship. Hope you’re doing okay after this play, ref.

Quincy Guerrier is a player

While he’s playing against guys that are no match for him physically, I have no doubt that Guerrier is going to be really good at SU. He finished with a double-double, scoring 14 points along with 10 rebounds and 5 assists today. This included a steal and slam on the break in the first half as well as a two possession sequence in the second where he buried a 3 from the top of the key and then slammed home a missed 3 on the ensuing possession.

He’s a man amongst boys out there on the glass, too. Guerrier will be solid from the jump this season even as a freshman. There’s a reason he was the No. 1 player coming out of Canada in 2019.

Brycen Goodine is going to play

Goodine has also impressed on this trip. He’s long, athletic, has a good feel for the game and he’s a better shooter than advertised.

It’s too early to tell exactly how the guard rotation will formulate, but Goodine is going to play.

We see you, Brendan Paul

For those unfamiliar, Brendan Paul is a rising sophomore at Syracuse. He walked-on to the team last year after playing prep with Buddy Boehiem at Brewster Academy. He’s gotten some shine on the trip, nailing a 3 in the second game on top of a silky behind the back pass from the perimeter to Shaun Belbey for a lay-up.

Paul hit another 3 today against Siena. We see you out there, man.

See highlights from the game below.

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