UBuffalo Wild Wings Postgame

[OmahaCuse]

Im a Autry hater, but I did like the tenacity. Again it's a exhibition, we tried 10k different line ups, we were gonna have shaky moments.
I was happy that JJ showed some effort on D, which he didnt do at all last year. Donnie again just stands like a light pole on D, he needs to move his feet and use his athleticism to block more shots. Betsey physically reminds me of Jaren Jackson, Kingz meh wasn't really featured enough to make a judgement. Kiyan is a true HOF players son, knows how to find pockets and is always in the right position offensively. WILL Kyle plays alot like Kenneth Faried if he rebounds like that all season that will help alot! Fennell a classic off the bench PG, we'll need his passing and vision but man like alot of Aussies mens and women's hes gonna have to get used to the Athletesism. Zephir wasnt as bad as i thought, reminds me of Cuffe just physically bigger.

Im probably missing more, but I only caught a couple 5 min spirts of the game.

Thought Fennel was very impressive. Supposed to be a great shooter.

 

[Orangezoo]

I'd say the game and end result was neither encouraging or discouraging.
It was a practice game so you try things. It was also against what "currently" projects as a pretty bad team.

I’d say there were stretches of play that showed what we need to see for 40 mins. I’d also say that it’s a good thing to have this game away from the dome so you add another layer of unfamiliarity even if it’s technically a neutral environment.

 

[GoSU96]

First impression, that was disappointing. This looks like a Red coached team. And that’s NOT a good thing.

Same crap as last year with some different players. Trying to push the pace on offense, but just doesn’t seem to work. No idea what kind of offense we run in the half court.

Defense looks no different than last season with the same mistakes.

It wasn’t all bad, but don’t really care to highlight the good because I don’t think it overcomes the subpar coaching. I think we are better than last season since we have a player upgrade, but not as good as the Judah Mintz led team in Red’s first year. The team will finish with a record around .500.

Meh

All that from an exhibition game?

Very insightful

Most impressive

 

[Orangezoo]

Thought Fennel was very impressive. Supposed to be a great shooter.

He’s a very good shooter. Several guys were feeling their way out. UB has a player in Freitag who actually is a pretty talented kid after a bit of research who it seemed the light went on late for too.

 

[orange79]

That team sucked.

Couldn't beat Pitt or Louisville and flamed out after just 4 NCAA tournament games.

Well, 3. But who's counting (except JB)?

 

[RedtheGOB]

I think our best offensive rotation was George/JJ/Kingz/Kiyan and Freeman at the 5. They didn't have an answer at all, Prob could substitute Betsy for Kiyan/Kingz with that rotation too because he had the hot hand. After a few solid possessions with easy quick scores and a steal that ended with a George lob to Freeman we did a hockey line change so didn't get to see much more of it. Just saying our small ball lineup is legit offensively.

Now we need to find the defensive lineup to get stops I think that likely looks much different with Sadiq in there. Autry let them play it out at the end with his starting 5 and really at the end of the half the same. We hate to see that after last year's debacle but also I'm not really that upset about it last night. There's alot of experience on this team, they need to get after the hot hand on the other team in crunch time.

 

[Orangezoo]

I think our best offensive rotation was George/JJ/Kingz/Kiyan and Freeman at the 5. They didn't have an answer at all, Prob could substitute Betsy for Kiyan/Kingz with that rotation too because he had the hot hand. After a few solid possessions with easy quick scores and a steal that ended with a George lob to Freeman we did a hockey line change so didn't get to see much more of it. Just saying our small ball lineup is legit offensively.

Now we need to find the defensive lineup to get stops I think that likely looks much different with Sadiq in there. Autry let them play it out at the end with his starting 5 and really at the end of the half the same. We hate to see that after last year's debacle but also I'm not really that upset about it last night. There's alot of experience on this team, they need to get after the hot hand on the other team in crunch time.

So to be careful not to compare programs as they stand I will caveat that I’m not saying we are UConn two years back.

With that said- Andre Jackson was the straw that stirred that defense. Sadiq is that kind of player. He can be the catalyst as a high energy elite defender that shuts down opponent runs and sparks our own.

 

[Surfan06001]

That team sucked.

Couldn't beat Pitt or Louisville and flamed out after just 4 NCAA tournament games.

If Jim Boeheim or Wes Johnson were out there last night I’d be feeling better right now

 

[DoctahLexus]

I didn’t watch the game but checking box score I’m underwhelmed

Hoping this is a joke.

 

[Niastri]

STARling continues to frustrate.
He needs to stop playing like he is the STAR. He is not. Better with Kingz at the 2

All we want from Starling is to take only good shots. He didn't hit his threes yesterday, but he took 5 wide open threes. He'll make three of those five most times he's that wide open and in rhythm.

We hit 40% of our threes yesterday and we missed a bunch of really good, open threes. The offense worked. I'm actually encouraged. I don't think our shooters are going to miss that many open threes consistently.

 

[23Zone]

All we want from Starling is to take only good shots. He didn't hit his threes yesterday, but he took 5 wide open threes. He'll make three of them must times he's that wide open and in rhythm.

We hit 40% of our threes yesterday and we missed a bunch of really good, open threes. The offense worked. I'm actually encouraged. I don't think our shooters are going to miss that many open threes consistently.

I'm encouraged also overall

 

[dasher]

The question is was it all about the w for Red tonight or was he sitting back and evaluating different personnel combinations. I thought that is partly what an exhibition game was for. You can't duplicate this in a practice. Even if he found a good combination, he needs to see what happens with that good combination if someone has to come out with foul trouble or an injury. This is an experimental game at best. Is there some general things to take away, sure. But don't be judging the whole season or the coaching ability on what you saw tonight. And yes playing this on the road was a very good idea.

Believe me, I wasn't judging Red's coaching ability on this game. It is fair to wonder if he is up for this job. I wasn't troubled by anything I saw tonight. Rather what I have seen for the last 2 years. Red seems to have a lot more talent this year. It will be a fair test this year.

 

[RedtheGOB]

So to be careful not to compare programs as they stand I will caveat that I’m not saying we are UConn two years back.

With that said- Andre Jackson was the straw that stirred that defense. Sadiq is that kind of player. He can be the catalyst as a high energy elite defender that shuts down opponent runs and sparks our own.

Yea. And that McKenna guy that led all scoring with 18 on 7-9 shooting and 4 3's off the bench. From what I can tell he is a D2 grad transfer (maybe D3 even) from some Southern weird conference where he was player of the year. 6’10 243. Not exactly who you worry about to get hot late shooting 3’s.

Gotta figure Sadiq or Freeman should be able to just that down or even Kyle. I just think that guy wasn't even on our radar and wouldn't expect him to be.

 

[Nicknack]

Is there a way to rewatch the game?

I wasn't able to watch the game due to being on a golf trip. I got home this morning and wanted to watch but couldn't find it on YTTV or the espn app so I just watched highlights. I didn't realize until a couple min ago that the game was/is available on cuse.com.

Syracuse vs. UBuffalo

Video: Syracuse vs. UBuffalo. Men's Basketball at Buffalo (exhibition) on 10/25/2025

cuse.com

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

I saw a lot of things I liked last night. Nathan George is our best point guard in a decade. Donnie Freeman looked a little rusty but what potential he has. I predict he finishes in the top 3 on the conference in rebounding. Kingz, Betsy and Anthony are all strong shooters, but not one dimensional scorers. Kyle was exactly what I expected good and bad. The wild card to me is JJ., can he become a good secondary ball handler creator off the wing? Can he defend at an average level? Can Starling consistently make the right play?
I think Red has talent. Autry is a good recruiter. He just has to step up and show he is growing as a game coach.

 

[Starman]

They got their work cut out for them in practice, but overall I was really happy with what I saw, turnover aside.

Exhibiton rotations: I think the high number of rotations is probably amazing stat fodder for whoever the new analytics person is. It made it hard as a viewer to keep up, but was useful.

George: He can get it. He had 2 really quick turnovers, but settled down. He made a 3, was Mr Lob, and was a rebounding machine. He's our MVP, certainly in terms difference in ability between him and the next player in his role.

Fennell: Freshman still finding his groove, but was acceptable. I think he should get the 4-6 minutes a game that George doesn't play.

Starling: After the first few minutes where he was just chucking 3s, I liked what I saw. Attacking the rim, court vision, and trying on defense. He would get beaten by his defender, but it wasn't automatic or every time, unlike much of last year.

Kiyan: Biggest surprise, after Betsey imo. He played very well offensively and made big efforts on defense. He was a little grab happy, though. I think he'll be in foul trouble a lot, even in his limited role. But he needs to clean up his turnovers.

Kingz: He made a 3. He got an offensive rebound and put it in for 2. That's all I really remember about him. I like that he does more than just shoot 3s, but hope to see more from him when he's playing regular minutes.

Betsey: Killed it. I don't need to say anything about his offense, it was steller. I also don't think his defense was a bad as people say. He played well around the perimeter, but was really bad inside when he needed to rotate to help defense.

Freeman: He needs to play inside more. Like Starling, too many 3s. Hopefully he's just shaking off the rust. He dribbled off his leg once or twice, but had a BEAUTIFUL layup that I think came from a PnR. With it being close to a year since he last played, he gets a pass, for now.

Kyle: Overall I'm pretty happy with him, but if he can't get his freethrow % up then he might lose us games all by himself. Imagine being up 2-3 points against a ranked team with 60 seconds on the clock.

Soure: I'm not really sure about him yet. I don't remember much about him, but he seemed like a servicable backup. Hopefully he can shoot freethrows.

 

[DoctorBombay]

I was hoping to see domination

Personally I've usually guaged the strength of a team by how much we steamroll clearly inferior teams in the preseason.
Yes, the games don't mean much, but even under JB, you'd get an idea if we were dominant or just "good" by whether we crushed by 30 or "won" by 10. Obviously this wasn't always foolproof, see; Lemoyne, but usually a good indication of where we were heading.
It's only year 3, but unlike JB's teams, Red's team don't seem to improve over the course of the year. They hit a peak, and stay there. We shall see

 

[sufan59]

Personally I've usually guaged the strength of a team by how much we steamroll clearly inferior teams in the preseason.
Yes, the games don't mean much, but even under JB, you'd get an idea if we were dominant or just "good", by whether we crushed by 30 or "won" by 10. Obviously this wasn't always foolproof, see; Lemoyne exhibition upset, but usually a good indication of where we were heading.
It's only year 3, but unlike JB's teams, Red's team don't seem to improve over the course of the year. They hit a peak, and stay there. We shall see

The part in bold is not true. Our efficiency numbers were much better in February and March of last year then it was earlier in the year. Now we need to be ready to bring it from day one that has been the biggest problem the last five years.

 

[DoctorBombay]

The part in bold is not true. Our efficiency numbers were much better in February and March of last year then it was earlier in the year. Now we need to be ready to bring it from day one that has been the biggest problem the last five years.

Fair enough, but I'm not a stat guy. Both seasons under Red when we needed wins, we didn't get 'em. If our efficiency numbers improved but the overall results didn't, then we're still stuck in neutral.
Biggest takeaway for me, and yes...it's very very early, is the lack of killer instinct. Until proven otherwise, and hopefully that'll change this season , we've rarely seen a Red team that stepped on an opponent's throat, and crushed 'em. JMHO

 

[RedtheGOB]

Fair enough, but I'm not a stat guy. Both seasons under Red when we needed wins, we didn't get 'em. If our efficiency numbers improved but the overall results didn't, then we're still stuck in neutral.
Biggest takeaway for me, and yes...it's very very early, is the lack of killer instinct. Until proven otherwise, and hopefully that'll change this season , we've rarely seen a Red team that stepped on an opponent's throat, and crushed 'em. JMHO

Sufan isn't refuting the real inaccuracies in your comments so I will.

1. The old man never played an exhibition away from the dome. Not once over 40 years but someone can tell me if we did back a hundred years ago.
2. The old man never played an exhibition against a D1 team. Not once but someone can remind me.
3. The old man never had to play 11 guys in an Exhibition game opener because he never had to turn over 10 new players on his roster year over year. That's because he never had to manage the portal and NIL.

Louisville/Kansas already met in an "Exhibition" game where both teams went all out, Duke and Tennessee play today in an "exhibition". If you're going to compare back in the day at least compare it with how D1 NCAA hoops now works not how it did 20 years ago.

For what it's worth I agree with the killer instinct part but like others said above every time we got rolling we did a hockey line change.

 

[Scooch]

Thinking more about it, scheduling this exhibition game “on the road” against a D1 team is really smart considering what needs to be done scheduling wise for the NET ranking when games really count. Good practice and preparation for what the team needs to do during the regular season, which is what exhibitions are all about.

As last season ended there was a thread about what we want to see in the offseason. One of my points was that we needed to play 2, real scrimmages against decent D1 competition. I actually wanted one of those to be closed to the public, as other programs have done.

I’m happy we did at least one of these and that we traveled to do it. It can only be helpful. Scheduling scrimmages against D2 opponents at home are less than worthless. Sometimes I think they can be harmful.

 

[Cuse On 3]

is there anyways to rewatch

 

[Orangezoo]

As last season ended there was a thread about what we want to see in the offseason. One of my points was that we needed to play 2, real scrimmages against decent D1 competition. I actually wanted one of those to be closed to the public, as other programs have done.

I’m happy we did at least one of these and that we traveled to do it. It can only be helpful. Scheduling scrimmages against D2 opponents at home are less than worthless. Sometimes I think they can be harmful.

Last year we destroyed both D2 teams in the scrimmages. It did nothing for us.

 

[althea]

I did a rewatch and will break some things down a bit later but anyone that has time it’s worth it. The negatives are far less when you pay a little closer attention and most really are around rust and execution. A lot of things that should improve as guys get more time on the court together.

Is the game still available on cuse.com?

 

[RedtheGOB]

Is the game still available on cuse.com?

Yea. I think that link should work. Might want to skip the 8 min mark to the 1 min mark of the 2nd half.

Syracuse vs. Buffalo (exhibition)

Video: Syracuse vs. Buffalo (exhibition). Men's Basketball at Buffalo (exhibition) on 10/25/2025

cuse.com