# 2018–19 Syracuse Orange men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Syracuse Orange men's basketball team represented Syracuse University during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Orange, led by 43rd-year head coach Jim Boeheim, played their home games at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York as sixth-year members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Syracuse received a bid to the 2019 NCAA men's basketball tournament as the number eight seed in the West region, where they lost in the round of 64 to ninth seeded Baylor.

## Previous season

The Orange finished the 2017–18 season 23–14, 8–10 in ACC play to finish in a tie for tenth place. They defeated Wake Forest in the first round of the 2018 ACC tournament before losing in the second round to North Carolina. They received one of the final four at-large bids to the NCAA tournament where, as a No. 11 seed, they defeated Arizona State in the First Four, and upset No. 6 seed TCU in the First Round and No. 3 seed Michigan State in the Second Round before losing in the Sweet Sixteen to fellow ACC member and No. 2 seed Duke.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Matthew Moyer | 2 | F | 6'8" | 215 | RS Sophomore | Columbus, OH | Transferred to Vanderbilt |
| Patrick Herlihy | 5 | F | 6'6" | 205 | Senior | Charleston, SC | Graduated |
| Braedon Bayer | 14 | G | 6'4" | 185 | Junior | Lagrangeville, NY | Transferred to Siena |
| Geno Thorpe | 30 | G | 6'4" | 170 | RS Senior | Pittsburgh, PA | Left Team |

### 2018 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jalen Carey PG | Montclair, New Jersey | Immaculate Conception High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Oct 4, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 88 ||||||
| Buddy Boeheim SG | Syracuse, New York | Jamesville-DeWitt High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Sep 8, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 76 ||||||
| Robert Braswell SF | Blythewood, South Carolina | Blythewood High School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | May 13, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2018 Syracuse Signees". Rivals.com. "2018 Syracuse Signees". Scout.com. "2018 Syracuse Signees". ESPN.com. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

### Future recruits
#### 2019 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2019 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Brycen Goodine #12 SG | Providence, Rhode Island | Jamesville-DeWitt High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Sep 13, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 85 |||||||
| Joseph Girard III #11 G | Glens Falls, NY | Glens Falls Senior High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 178 lb (81 kg) | Oct 14, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 81 |||||||
| John Bol Ajak #0 C | West Chester, PA | Westtown School | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Oct 2, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 70 |||||||
| Quincy Guerrier #6 SF | Quebec City, QC | Thetford Academy | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Oct 31, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: NR |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2019 Syracuse Signees". Rivals.com. "2019 Syracuse Signees". Scout.com. "2019 Syracuse Signees". ESPN.com. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. "2019 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. |||||||

## Roster
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 | Bench 3 |
| C | Paschal Chukwu | | | |
| PF | Oshae Brissett | Bourama Sidibe | Robert Braswell | |
| SF | Elijah Hughes | Marek Dolezaj | Antonio Balandi (W) | |
| SG | Tyus Battle | Buddy Boeheim | Shaun Belbey (W) | |
| PG | Frank Howard | Jalen Carey | Brendan Paul (W) | Ray Featherston (W) |
Source:

## Schedule and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition |||||||||
| October 25, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 16 | Saint Rose | W 80–49 | | 22 – Brissett | 14 – Brissett | 6 – Battle | Carrier Dome (5,628) Syracuse, NY |
| October 31, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 16 | Le Moyne | W 89–52 | | 21 – Hughes | 5 – Tied | 5 – Battle | Carrier Dome (5,288) Syracuse, NY |
| Non-conference regular season |||||||||
| November 6, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 16 | Eastern Washington 2K Classic campus-site game | W 66–34 | 1–0 | 20 – Brissett | 8 – Brissett | 3 – Boeheim | Carrier Dome (19,912) Syracuse, NY |
| November 10, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 16 | Morehead State 2K Classic campus-site game | W 84–70 | 2–0 | 23 – Battle | 13 – Brissett | 3 – Battle | Carrier Dome (21,012) Syracuse, NY |
| November 15, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 15 | vs. UConn 2K Classic semifinals/Rivalry | L 76–83 | 2–1 | 26 – Carey | 7 – Carey | 4 – Battle | Madison Square Garden (14,417) New York, NY |
| November 16, 2018* 4:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 15 | vs. No. 13 Oregon 2K Classic 3rd place game | L 65–80 | 2–2 | 17 – Battle | 6 – Brissett | 4 – Brissett | Madison Square Garden (10,909) New York, NY |
| November 21, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Colgate | W 77–56 | 3–2 | 24 – Battle | 10 – Sidibe | 5 – Howard | Carrier Dome (16,586) Syracuse, NY |
| November 28, 2018* 7:15 pm, ESPN2 | | at No. 16 Ohio State ACC–Big Ten Challenge | W 72–62 | 4–2 | 20 – Battle | 7 – Chukwu | 3 – Tied | Value City Arena (16,962) Columbus, OH |
| December 1, 2018* 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | Cornell | W 63–55 | 5–2 | 26 – Battle | 8 – Brissett | 4 – Howard | Carrier Dome (21,547) Syracuse, NY |
| December 4, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Northeastern | W 72–49 | 6–2 | 21 – Brissett | 14 – Brissett | 6 – Howard | Carrier Dome (20,416) Syracuse, NY |
| December 8, 2018* 3:30 pm, ESPN | | Georgetown | W 72–71 | 7–2 | 26 – Battle | 9 – Brissett | 4 – Carey | Carrier Dome (24,082) Syracuse, NY |
| December 15, 2018* 12:00 pm, ACCRSN | No. 25-T | Old Dominion | L 62–68 | 7–3 | 23 – Battle | 6 – Tied | 6 – Howard | Carrier Dome (17,585) Syracuse, NY |
| December 18, 2018* 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 14 Buffalo | L 59–71 | 7–4 | 16 – Hughes | 12 – Brissett | 4 – Brissett | Carrier Dome (18,620) Syracuse, NY |
| December 22, 2018* 2:00 pm, ACCRSN | | Arkansas State | W 82–52 | 8–4 | 17 – Tied | 13 – Chukwu | 3 – Tied | Carrier Dome (18,808) Syracuse, NY |
| December 29, 2018* 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | St. Bonaventure | W 81–48 | 9–4 | 21 – Battle | 6 – Chukwu | 4 – Howard | Carrier Dome (21,968) Syracuse, NY |
| ACC regular season |||||||||
| January 5, 2019 12:00 pm, Raycom | | at Notre Dame | W 72–62 | 10–4 (1–0) | 22 – Hughes | 11 – Brissett | 4 – Howard | Edmund P. Joyce Center (8,245) South Bend, IN |
| January 9, 2019 8:00 pm, Raycom | | Clemson | W 61–53 | 11–4 (2–0) | 17 – Hughes | 7 – Hughes | 4 – Tied | Carrier Dome (17,289) Syracuse, NY |
| January 12, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Georgia Tech | L 59–73 | 11–5 (2–1) | 15 – Brissett | 7 – Dolezaj | 3 – Tied | Carrier Dome (19,257) Syracuse, NY |
| January 14, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 1 Duke | W 95–91 $^{OT}$ | 12–5 (3–1) | 32 – Battle | 18 – Chukwu | 5 – Howard | Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) Durham, NC |
| January 19, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCRSN | | Pittsburgh | W 74–63 | 13–5 (4–1) | 22 – Battle | 11 – Chukwu | 5 – Tied | Carrier Dome (24,466) Syracuse, NY |
| January 24, 2019 8:00 pm, Raycom | | Miami (FL) | W 73–53 | 14–5 (5–1) | 22 – Hughes | 6 – Battle | 9 – Battle | Carrier Dome (21,058) Syracuse, NY |
| January 26, 2019 8:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 10 Virginia Tech | L 56–78 | 14–6 (5–2) | 16 – Brissett | 7 – Brissett | 2 – Tied | Cassell Coliseum (9,275) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 30, 2019 8:00 pm, Raycom | | at Boston College | W 77–71 | 15–6 (6–2) | 31 – Battle | 5 – Brissett | 6 – Battle | Conte Forum (6,862) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| February 2, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at Pittsburgh | W 65–56 | 16–6 (7–2) | 18 – Brissett | 12 – Brissett | 5 – Battle | Petersen Events Center (12,508) Pittsburgh, PA |
| February 5, 2019 8:00 pm, Raycom | | No. 22 Florida State | L 62–80 | 16–7 (7–3) | 23 – Battle | 12 – Brissett | 2 – Tied | Carrier Dome (21,553) Syracuse, NY |
| February 9, 2019 2:00 pm, Raycom | | Boston College | W 67–56 | 17–7 (8–3) | 21 – Battle | 12 – Brissett | 3 – Dolezaj | Carrier Dome (26,011) Syracuse, NY |
| February 13, 2019 8:00 pm, Raycom | | at NC State | L 58–73 | 17–8 (8–4) | 21 – Howard | 6 – Sidibe | 3 – Hughes | PNC Arena (16,335) Raleigh, NC |
| February 20, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN | | No. 18 Louisville | W 69–49 | 18–8 (9–4) | 18 – Hughes | 9 – Dolezaj | 7 – Battle | Carrier Dome (22,988) Syracuse, NY |
| February 23, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN | | No. 1 Duke | L 65–75 | 18–9 (9–5) | 16 – Battle | 7 – Hughes | 4 – Brissett | Carrier Dome (35,642$^†$) Syracuse, NY |
| February 26, 2019 9:00 pm, Raycom | | at No. 5 North Carolina | L 85–93 | 18–10 (9–6) | 29 – Battle | 5 – Battle | 7 – Howard | Dean Smith Center (21,135) Chapel Hill, NC |
| March 2, 2019 12:00 pm, Raycom | | at Wake Forest | W 79–54 | 19–10 (10–6) | 21 – Battle | 7 – Hughes | 6 – Howard | LJVM Coliseum (9,721) Winston-Salem, NC |
| March 4, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN | | No. 2 Virginia | L 53–79 | 19–11 (10–7) | 11 – Battle | 8 – Chukwu | 3 – Battle | Carrier Dome (29,052) Syracuse, NY |
| March 9, 2019 12:00 pm, CBS | | at Clemson | L 55–67 | 19–12 (10–8) | 15 – Brissett | 7 – Brissett | 3 – Brissett | Littlejohn Coliseum (8,620) Clemson, SC |
| ACC Tournament |||||||||
| March 13, 2019 9:30 pm, ESPN2 | (6) | vs. (14) Pittsburgh Second Round | W 73–59 | 20–12 | 20 – Boeheim | 9 – Chukwu | 4 – Boeheim | Spectrum Center (19,691) Charlotte, NC |
| March 14, 2019 9:00 pm, ESPN | (6) | vs. (3) No. 5 Duke Quarterfinals | L 72–84 | 20–13 | 28 – Howard | 7 – Brissett | 3 – Howard | Spectrum Center (19,691) Charlotte, NC |
| NCAA tournament |||||||||
| March 21, 2019* 9:57 pm, truTV | (8 W) | vs. (9 W) Baylor First Round | L 69–78 | 20–14 | 25 – Hughes | 8 – Brissett | 3 – Hughes | Vivint Smart Home Arena (16,807) Salt Lake City, UT |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West. All times are in Eastern Time. |||||||||
† Record for the largest on-campus attendance in college basketball history.

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | 16 | 15 | RV | RV | RV | T-25 | — | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not released |
| Coaches | 14 | 14^ | RV | RV | RV | RV | — | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings ^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.