SYRACUSE, N.Y — In the wake of an 0-3 showing in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas last week, the Syracuse Orange basketball team was metaphorically sick. After suffering losses to Houston, Kansas and Iowa State the Orange returned home and licked its wounds. Syracuse felt like it could’ve won two of those games. By putting itself in an 0-3 hole last week, Syracuse entered Tuesday night against the No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers in “must-win” territory.It would be the last chance at a quadrant one victory in the non-conference portion of its schedule. Anything short of a win versus Tennessee would’ve put a major strain on Syracuse’s goal to reach its NCAA Tournament.“For us we knew it was a must-win,” Kiyan Anthony said. “The conversations we had as a team, individually we just knew we all had to bring it like we did against Houston. … We gotta come (out on) top and we did a great job of that.”The Orange salvaged its non-conference schedule by securing a signature win out of conference. In addition to non-conference strength of schedule (SOS), the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee does consider at non-conference record — including non-conference record by quadrant — as criteria.“It was crucial that we bounced back,” Will Kyle said. “I’m just super proud how all the guys came together. We could’ve hung our heads over those losses but we knew what we’re capable of and we came out and we were able to get a win today.”Syracuse was oh-so-close at coming up with a signature win against No. 3 Houston in the opening round of the Players Era tournament. The Orange took Houston to overtime before bowing out 78-74. Syracuse hung with Kansas before the game got away late. The Orange finally relented to the pressure of Iowa State in the second half, losing by 31.After dropping three straight quadrant one opportunities in Vegas, Syracuse couldn’t stomach the thought of coming up short again.“Conversation was just to be hungry,” JJ Starling said of the Tennessee matchup. “We came up short in Vegas and we were all upset about it because we knew we could’ve got at least two of those games. We just really remembered that feeling that we had in Vegas and we applied it here and we knew we didn’t want to come up short again.”In the ACC/SEC Challenge, Syracuse came out on the right side and earned the right to keep fighting for its long-term goal. The Orange will have five non-conference games remaining before beginning ACC play against Clemson on Dec. 31.“As far as the non-conference goes, it was definitely a huge win to finally get a quad one win,” Kyle said. “I feel like we just gotta keep focus, non-conference isn’t over yet.”The ACC looks to be an improved league this season with eight teams in the top 50 of the first NET rankings. That’s second only to the Big Ten (nine) and SEC (nine). As it stands now, the Orange will have seven quadrant one opportunities in the ACC. But first five non-conference games remain.As Syracuse moves forward it can learn from the losses while leaving what happened in Vegas behind.“I think every win is important but in particular, to be able to win at home against a team like Tennessee was huge,” Adrian Autry said, “because it was so close last week. We really fought and battled. I really felt for our guys because I thought we had a chance to come away with a couple wins last week. It’s all a process. This is the process. This is the season. This is a long journey.”