Syracuse, N.Y. — Give Adrian Autry time to think about ways to light a fire under his Syracuse University basketball team and he’ll be willing to mix it up.

Autry also received a little inspiration from veteran guard Kyle Cuffe during SU’s brief holiday break. Freshman forward Donnie Freeman said he received some advice he needed to hear, and Eddie Lampkin feels like it is his time to shine after collecting a double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds) in SU’s last non-conference test.

Here is the best of what I overheard in the home locker room on Saturday after SU’s 75-63 win over Bucknell.

Adrian Autry

On Kyle Cuffe’s message to the team:

“Basketball is three seasons. Non-conference, conference and postseason. I thought that was pretty impactful. That was the message. I give Kyle credit on that. We just talked about that. Is our non-conference where we want to be? No. But let’s finish it out with a win, end that season and get ready for the new season. The ACC conference. That’s what we are going to do.”

On making the switch to more press defense:

“I think it’s when the team is not playing the way you want them to play, you have to look at everything. I had a lot of time after the Maryland game to reassess and think about some things. Even in that defeat I had seen some things in the press that was something maybe we needed to explore more. We came from break and worked on it a lot. That was the change. Everybody always thinks it’s personnel. It’s everything. Everything is on the table to get us better. I have a standard, and we are not there yet.”

Kyle Cuffe

On the press defense injecting some energy into the Orange:

“Definitely. Just me fighting and not backing down. My back is against the wall, I’m still going to go ahead and jab. Just being able to be out there and fight with my teammates”

On how SU will have to adjust offensively in ACC play:

“We gotta make our moves a little faster. I feel like we make our moves faster, the turnovers won’t happen. The bigs know that now. Teams know we are going to throw it down to the bigs. They are going to come trap. We have to cut, space out for the bigs. Now instead of JC getting nine assists, maybe it is Eddie or Donnie getting nine assists. That could open up the floor for us.”

Eddie Lampkin

On hitting a groove at the right time:

“Just taking advantage of the opportunity. I feel like I’m a great player. I just have to keep it going. Kind of had a slow start. But being able to show what I can do against better teams is going to help me more than against the smaller schools. If I can go perform against the better teams it can only help in the future.”

On Syracuse playing more press defense going forward:

“Taking off eight seconds is a big thing because I feel like our half-court defense is amazing. Being able to do that consistently would be good for us. They have been showing us a lot of Villanova. That was a great team that ran that and I feel like if we get that down, we might surprise a lot of teams.”

Donnie Freeman

On how Kyle Cuffe’s “three seasons” message was one he needed to hear:

“As a freshman, I haven’t experienced college basketball. That simplified the game for me. Now that the first season is out of the way, we move into season two and that is a big and crucial part of the season. We’ll take it day-by-day and be ready for Wake Forest.”

Contact Brent Axe: Email | X | BlueSky

Sign up for the Syracuse Sports newsletter!