Syracuse’s season has been a tale of ups and downs to this point.

The Orange hope to rebound from a disappointing defeat when they host Mercyhurst in nonconference action Wednesday.

Syracuse (6-4) began its season with four straight wins before absorbing an 0-3 record on its trip to Las Vegas. The team then recovered to notch two consecutive victories, including an upset of No. 13 Tennessee, before the pendulum swung the other way in Saturday’s 70-69 home loss to Hofstra.

J.J. Starling scored 15 points and William Kyle III added 13 for the Orange, who shot 9-of-16 from the foul line in the one-point loss.

“It’s unacceptable for Syracuse,” Kyle said. “It’s unacceptable for everybody on the team. It’s unacceptable for me – I’ve got to do more as well. We just got to be a lot better, a lot better.”

The Orange trailed by 10 with under five minutes remaining before rallying to take the lead. Still, they came up short in the end, and they are running out of time to get things ironed out before ACC play begins on New Year’s Eve.

“This loss definitely put a dent in the Syracuse men’s program, but I feel like it’s always a chance to bounce back,” said freshman guard Kiyan Anthony. “We’re not even halfway through the season, so we still have a lot of games, a lot of big games we can win, and we’ve proven that we can compete with these big teams.”

Mercyhurst (4-7) fell to 1-7 on the road with Saturday’s 80-47 setback at Davidson. The Lakers trailed 36-15 at halftime and never recovered, despite 15 points from Bernie Blunt III.

Blunt averages 16.6 points and has made a team-high 24 3-pointers on the year.

“He’s our best player. He’s our go-to guy,” said Jake Lemelman, who chips in 12.2 points per game. “As much as we can help him and take the load off him, that’s what we need to do.”

While Syracuse ranks last among 365 Division I teams in free-throw percentage (56.8), Mercyhurst isn’t much better at 58.3%. The Lakers shot 7 of 16 from the foul line in the loss to Davidson.

–Field Level Media