Syracuse Basketball: Early Concerns for Orange in 2014-15

After an uncommon early-season loss, the Syracuse basketball team rebounded with two straight wins. The Orange followed the loss to California at Madison Square Garden with a win over Iowa in the 2K Classic consolation game and then returned home for a 70-37 drubbing of Loyola (Maryland).

Syracuse will next welcome Holy Cross to the Carrier Dome on Friday before traveling Ann Arbor to face Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. 

Even though they've only lost one game, there have been some struggles along the way for the Orange. Holy Cross, who beat then-No. 25 Harvard in the first game of the year, will be no pushover. That will be especially true if the Orange are still full from Thanksgiving or looking ahead to the Wolverines.

If the Orange want to beat Holy Cross and have a chance against Michigan, here are a few things to focus on.

Transition Defense

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One thing you hear announcers talk about a lot during Syracuse broadcasts is how to best attack the 2-3 zone. One of the best ways, they say, is to beat it down the floor in transition. If you don't allow the zone to set up, it becomes much easier to score against it. Otherwise, you can find yourself passing around the perimeter until you have to force a shot late in the shot clock.

So far this season, the Orange have been caught jogging back on defense far too often. Per Hoop Math, Orange opponents have an effective field-goal percentage of 56.2 percent on shots off of a rebound within the first 10 seconds of a possession.

Opponents are also shooting 66.7 percent on two-point jumpers in that scenario and 37.5 percent from three. Compare that three-point defense number to Syracuse's overall mark of 28 percent, and you can see how much better the Orange defense is when it can get set up.

If you allow opposing players to step into rhythm threes in transition, it can help them get into a groove. If a team starts feeling it from deep against the Orange, it could make for a very long night.

Of course, there is an easy way to help sort this problem out. The Orange can simply sprint back on defense. If Syracuse doesn't allow the opposition to outrun its defense, it will force opponents to play at a slower pace. Considering the Orange offense has been struggling, keeping opposing offenses in check is a big help. Speaking of which...

Three-Point Shooting

To borrow from the immortal Dennis Green, the Orange are who we thought they were so far this season. They have struggled to make jump shots, which in turn is bogging down the entire offense.

There are no advanced stats needed for this one. The Orange have only made 23.4 percent of their threes on the year. Trevor Cooney leads the way at 31 percent. And he's supposed to be the specialist.

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Not only does throwing up brick after brick (Michael Gbinije even hit the side of the backboard against Loyola) directly affect the scoreboard, it hurts the rest of the offense as well. If the Orange aren't making shots, opponents won't respect the shooters as much. That, in turn, with allow defenders to sink into the paint more and make it difficult for the Orange to operate inside, which has been their strength early on.

The offensive woes become especially problematic if the opposition has it going from deep. If Syracuse's opponent is making threes but the Orange can't, it would take a superhuman effort inside from Rakeem Christmas and Chris McCullough for the Orange to keep up.

And if one of those inside players has to sit, the Orange encounter another problem altogether...

Center Depth

The Orange essentially have no backup center at this point. Without DaJuan Coleman, Rakeem Christmas' only relief comes in the form of Chinonso Obokoh, who didn't play at all last year. Because of his inexperience, Obokoh can't yet be relied on to anchor the defense for any extended stretch.

And Obokoh would force the Orange to essentially play four-on-five on offense.

McCullough can hold his own in the middle, but the Orange would much prefer having Christmas in there. But he is still prone to the head-scratching foul every now and then. Both McCullough and Christmas play extremely physically on defense, and if a referee decides to call a game tightly, they could both wind up with foul issues.

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There is not much the Orange can do to remedy this problem at this point. Christmas just needs to do his best to stay out of foul trouble. Right now Christmas is getting 28.6 minutes a night. He needs to be well above 30 to give the Orange the best chance to win.