What Autry, Starling, and George said after Syracuse's 71-60 loss to Kansas

After taking third-ranked Houston to overtime Monday night, Syracuse (4-2) suffered from a game of poor outside shooting against Kansas Tuesday afternoon, grounding its offense in a 71-60 defeat to the Jayhawks (5-2).

With the defeat, the Orange fell into the bracket of teams losing their first two games in Vegas, and Tuesday evening received surprising news that they would face Iowa State, a winner in both of its games so far in the event, instead of a team that was 1-1 or even 0-2. The game will be played at 1:00 p.m. ET and televised on TNT.

Iowa State is ranked 15th in this week's Top 25, and esstentially the fifth best team of the 18 playing in the event, after having defeated St. John's by one point Monday, and easily handled Creighton Tuesday winning by 18 points.

Adrian Autry blames lack of consistent energy and cohesiveness more than the team's shooting woes v. Kansas

The 'Cuse shot just 32% (20-0f-63) from the field against an aggressive KU defense, clanging shots inside and out, and hitting just 7-of-30 (23%) from beyond the arc. Autry was more concerned about lack of overall ("Level 5") team energy, the players being in sync, than lack of offense, especially missing leading scorer Donnie Freeman with an injured foot.

"To me, it's not about the offense," Autry said after SU faced the Jayhawks program for the first time since 2017. "It's really about our energy on both ends of the floor. We got good shots, some that we can make, some that we didn't. But it really falls back to our concentration and energy level."

J.J. Starling is still finding his groove six games into the season

The team's leading returning scorer from last season is still settling into this season after getting hurt just three minutes into the opening game win over Binghamton November 3, then missing three games with a leg injury.

Starling scored 11 points with four rebounds and four assists against Houston in Monday's OT loss, then struggled shooting along with his teammates finishing just 3-of-13 from the field for 10 points, with five boards and three assists against KU. The senior feels better each game with an upward trajectory.

"I'm back, fully healthy, now it's just finding my rhythm," Starling said while also alluding to the one part of his game that he has made a career commitment to improving, the defensive end of the floor.

"I feel like I am doing a better job buying in defensively, and I know I can score," he added. "But I am not focusing on that (scoring), it's going to come, my teammates haven been finding me for open looks and eventually things are going to go the way we want them to go."

The Kansas defense bottled up Naithan George running the Orange offense

The big and athletic Jayhawks bothered the SU guards all game, limiting the Orange to just 10 assists on 20 made field goals, although big men William Kyle III and Sadiq White found some gaps inside and finished nine points apiece.

George alluded to Autry's comments about the team's energy level needing to be consistent on each possession, and on each end of the floor, especially when adjusting to in-game situations.

"They did a lot of switching (on man defense), and they're a pretty big team," George said about the one lesson he took away from a defeat in which he made only one field goal, missed two three-pointers, and had four assists.

"So when they switched," George added, we needed to be more aggressive, and I kind of feel we were taken out of our game because of them switching."

SUPPORT THE JUICE ONLINE

For more discussion on Syracuse athletics, visit our free Syracuse Orange discussion forum.