What Syracuse players did during snowstorm Stella
Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor
Tyler Lydon (left) hosted about half of Syracuse's roster at his place to play video games during the snowstorm.
About two hours after Syracuse fell short of its season-long goal of making the NCAA Tournament, the Orange’s first-round National Invitation Tournament matchup was set. No. 1 seed SU had a game scheduled fewer than 48 hours away.
But due to Stella, the snowstorm that forced the university to operate on a limited basis for two days this week, the game was postponed until Wednesday night. Syracuse (19-14, 10-8 Atlantic Coast) pulled away with a 90-77 win over the Spartans (25-10, 14-4 Southern) in front of a season-low attendance of 4,288 in the Carrier Dome.
With the extra day after the postponement and horrid road conditions, many Orange players turned to video games to occupy their time.
“I just sat around playing video games with the team,” freshman forward Taurean Thompson said.
Thompson said half of SU’s roster went to Tyler Lydon’s house to play for bragging rights. The freshman’s favorite games are Call of Duty and 2K basketball. Walk-ons Adrian Autry Jr. and Ky Feldman are Lydon’s roommates.
“They’re big into 2K,” Lydon said, “but me and Adrian like to play FIFA. We play a lot of sports games.”
Andrew White, who scored a game-high 34 points on Wednesday, spent the extra time “stuck in the house.” He also made the trek from his University Village apartment to the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center to get extra reps.
While Syracuse spent the time at home, North Carolina-Greensboro had to go through its typical pregame routines for a second day in a row. The game wasn’t postponed on Tuesday until about 1 p.m. and UNCG head coach Wes Miller tweeted that it’d have helped him know earlier on.
Disappointed! Would have helped to know this earlier today. We've got TOUGH guys. They'll COMPETE when they get an opportunity!!
— CoachWesMiller (@CoachWesMiller) March 14, 2017
While Miller tweeted he was “disappointed,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim used the extra time to prepare for the first game in the single-elimination tournament.
“We had practice,” Boeheim said. “That’s what we do.”
MORE COVERAGE
- Gallery: Syracuse stiff-arms North Carolina-Greensboro, 90-77, in NIT opener
- Jim Boeheim on the NIT’s experimental rules: ‘It makes no sense’
- Syracuse fights off NCAA Tournament disappointment to beat UNC-Greensboro, 90-77, in NIT opener
- Assistant coach Gerry McNamara fueled Andrew White to break his single-season 3-point record
- The Final Word: Beat writers discuss takeaways from Syracuse’s 90-77 win over UNC-Greensboro
Published on March 16, 2017 at 12:04 am
Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds
