Brissett Leads Orange to Opening Victory

Tuesday, November 6

Syracuse, NY

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

1-0

Eastern Washington

0-1

Eastern Washington

Syracuse

11/6/2018 9:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Jim Boeheim Press Conference Oshae Brissett Interview Jim Boeheim Quotes - EWU Player Quotes - EWU Photo Gallery

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A game-high 20 points from Oshae Brissett led the Syracuse (1-0) to a 66-38 season opening victory against Eastern Washington (0-1) Tuesday night at the Carrier Dome. The contest was the first of four for the Orange in the 2K Empire Classic benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project.

The only player from either team to record double-digit points, Brissett also led both teams with eight rebounds and three steals. His 20 points came on an 8-of-15 (.571) shooting performance, and his eight field goals tied a career-high.

Tyus Battle and Bourama Sidibe added eight points each and a total of eight Syracuse players tallied a basket. In his Orange debut, Elijah Hughes notched a career-high seven rebounds and three steals.

HOW IT WAS DECIDED
A 10:29 scoring drought for Eastern Washington in the first half was all Syracuse needed to secure a massive 23-8 lead. With the contest knotted 5-5, Hughes and Paschal Chukwu gave the Orange back-to-back baskets and the go-ahead, 9-5, lead. After the Eagles narrowed the deficit to three, the Orange's offense answered, exploding for 12 straight points, including five from both Marek Dolezaj and Brissett.

SECOND-HALF SHOWING
After the Eagles scored their first points of the second half on their second three of the night, Syracuse put up another offensive showing with a 17-0 run over the next three minutes. The run featured eight points and two steals from Brissett with three other players – Chukwu, Buddy Boeheim and Hughes –contributing baskets.

FIRST POINTS IN THE ORANGE
Robert Braswell, Boeheim, Jalen Carey and Hughes and all scored their first points in the Orange uniform. Braswell and Boeheim both grabbed four rebounds while Carey impressed with six points and seven boards of his own.

COACH BOEHEIM'S THOUGHTS
"Every time you go out to play, you are going to learn something. More bad things today than we would like to look at. I think our offense is a little difficult when you don't have a point guard out there. You have to do more ball movement and we aren't moving things the way we need to move them to be a good team right now."

OF NOTE

The stout Orange defense held Eastern Washington to a 13-of-59 (.220) shooting performance. The effort is the lowest by a Syracuse opponent since Nov. 25, 2015 where Syracuse held Loyola to .192 percent (10-of-52).
Tuesday also marked the first time the Orange held an opponent to under 40 points since the Nov. 25, 2015 matchup against Loyola where Syracuse defeated the Ramblers 70-37.
Eastern Washington's 34 points are the fewest recorded in the Carrier Dome by an Orange opponent. The previous low was 35 points Dec. 10, 2005 by Colgate.
Following Tuesday's victory, the Orange are 39-4 all-time in home openers under head coach Jim Boeheim.
Marek Dolezaj was perfect on the night with a 3-of-3 performance, notching seven points.
After missing both exhibition contests, Jalen Carey saw his first action in the Dome.
Sophomore guard Howard Washington saw his first court time since he suffered a knee injury last season.
Tuesday night's contest marked the first meeting between the two schools.

UP NEXT
The Orange continue play in the 2K Classic as they host Morehead State Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the 2018-19 Men's Basketball season can be purchased on Cuse.com, by calling 1-888-DOMETIX or at Gate B of the Carrier Dome.