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Syracuse’s 2024-25 season was one of its worst in program history. Following a promising first season under head coach Adrian Autry, where it won 20 games, SU took a step back. The Orange finished with their fewest number of wins (14) since 1968 and most conference losses ever (13) while missing the NCAA Tournament for a fourth straight season.

Throughout the year, it was clear SU wasn’t a tournament-caliber team. It barely scraped by Le Moyne, Colgate and Youngstown State to start the season, before getting embarrassed by Maryland and Tennessee in nonconference play. The Orange didn’t perform much better in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They won back-to-back games once, one of just two winning streaks on the season.

It culminated with Syracuse barely making the ACC Tournament after finishing 14th in the regular-season standings. SU was the second-lowest seed in Charlotte, North Carolina, and though they defeated Florida State to momentarily stay alive, the Orange wilted to SMU in the second round. The loss was the final nail in Syracuse’s coffin.

Here are some superlatives from Syracuse’s 2024-25 season:

Most Valuable Player

Zak Wolf: J.J. Starling

This is the boring and really only valid pick. During his second season with SU, J.J. Starling was its clear No. 1 option. Whenever the Orange needed a bucket — especially in crunch time — they went to Starling. Without him, there’s no telling how much worse the season could’ve been.

Starling missed seven games earlier this year, where Syracuse went 2-5, with its victories coming against UAlbany and Bucknell. Starling’s value was irreplaceable, as he was Syracuse’s lone creator on the perimeter. The Orange’s lack of shot creators made them have an uber-reliance on Starling, and he performed well under the pressure.

Justin Girshon: J.J. Starling

Starling is the only correct choice as SU’s MVP pick, as seen by our unanimous selection. After serving as Judah Mintz’s understudy last year, Starling seamlessly stepped into the lead guard role this year. His 17.8 points per game were the most among Syracuse players by over four points and the fifth most among ACC guards.

Without Starling accumulating the 42nd-highest % shots mark (31.8%) — a KenPom metric that measures a percentage of a team’s shots taken while a player is on the court — in the country, SU couldn’t have competed on any given night.

Aiden Stepansky: J.J. Starling

Not too exciting here, but I’m also going with Starling. The proof was in the pudding as the Orange went 2-5 without Starling when he broke his left hand, posting a minus-43 margin. It was often Starling’s heroics that led to a marquee victory, but his absence proved big.

Whether it was 26 against BC to capture SU’s first road victory, or 27 to keep its season alive against FSU in the ACC Tournament, Starling’s ability to take over games with his downhill excellence and sweet midrange jumper gave the Orange a needed star they could rely on when it mattered most.

Most impactful transfer

Zak Wolf: Eddie Lampkin Jr.

Eddie Lampkin Jr. provided Syracuse with a pure post scorer, something it severely lacked last season after losing Jesse Edwards. The Colorado transfer entered with plenty of postseason experience under his belt and hoped to bring Syracuse back to the big dance. Despite failing at his goal, Lampkin packed a scoring punch in the paint.

He averaged 11.5 points per game on 60% shooting from the field, recording 14 double-doubles, while leading the ACC with 3.5 offensive rebounds per game. Lampkin was a focal point of SU’s offense, especially toward the end of the season when it emphasized pounding the ball down low.

Justin Girshon: Eddie Lampkin Jr.

Considering SU paid $850,000 to acquire Lampkin from the transfer portal, as syracuse.com reported, I’m glad for the team’s sake he was its most impactful transfer. While Lampkin didn’t start his SU career on the strongest foot, mostly due to injuries, he came into his own in conference play en route to nearly averaging a double-double on the season (11.5 points, 9.6 rebounds per game).

While Lampkin couldn’t will the Orange to a DJ Burns-like March Madness run like he’s shown he’s capable of in the past, his lone season with the program was a success. Now, SU needs to find its new Lampkin for next year, as he’s out of collegiate eligibility and it has no apparent replacement.

Aiden Stepansky: Jyáre Davis

Once Donnie Freeman went down with an injury, the glue of Syracuse’s team was unequivocally Jyáre Davis. While Davis transferred to the Orange expecting a smaller role than he previously played, he still excelled out of the gate off the bench.

Once Freeman got hurt, Davis started every game the rest of the year and thrived with his inside presence while helping to establish SU’s offensive identity on the inside with Lampkin. He finished the season scoring double-digit points in five of Syracuse’s final six games, keeping the Orange together just enough to make the ACC Tournament despite a spiraling season.

Syracuse men’s basketball went just 14-19 overall and 7-13 in ACC play in the 2024-25 season, one of its worst marks in decades. Angelina Grevi | Staff Photographer

Biggest disappointment

Zak Wolf: Jaquan Carlos

This one may be a bit harsh, but Jaquan Carlos simply wasn’t good enough for most of the season. Carlos averaged 6.3 assists at Hofstra and was brought in to be a pass-first point guard following Mintz’s departure. The jump in competition proved to be too much for Carlos, as his assist numbers dropped to just over four per game this season.

Carlos was removed from the starting lineup after 14 games and only reinserted when Elijah Moore got injured. Carlos was a product of his situation. When Starling was injured, he was SU’s only reliable ball-handler. It was a lot of pressure for someone who rose up from the mid-major ranks, and Syracuse’s roster makeup didn’t do Carlos any favors.

Justin Girshon: Chance Westry

I’m going to choose a bit of a wild card here and take Chance Westry. When Westry transferred to SU in 2023, the former four-star recruit plagued by injuries as a freshman at Auburn seemed primed to thrive in a change of scenery. However, like his freshman year, injuries prevented him from playing his first year at Syracuse.

Heading into his junior year, with the Orange depleted at guard after losing Mintz, Quadir Copeland and Justin Taylor while only adding Moore and Jaquan Carlos, the hope was the third time could be the charm for Westry. It wasn’t. Instead, a preseason illness delayed his debut until December. Then, another injury prevented him from suiting up again all season in a stretch the Orange needed any production they could get from their guards.

Aiden Stepansky: Elijah Moore

There could be arguments for many disappointments for SU, but I’m going to go with a promising freshman who quickly became a nonfactor. No, it’s not Freeman. The sharpshooting freshman Moore entered the season as a possible perimeter weapon in the conference.

While Moore had an impressive two-game stretch early in the season with 19 and 24 points, his role quickly diminished as his shot turned cold and his defense remained horrid. Mixed with an injury, Moore became a nonfactor in the final month of the season. His 3-point shooting was a threat, but Moore’s signature elbow celebration didn’t see the light of day in Syracuse’s final seven games.

Worst loss

Zak Wolf: Miami

Syracuse was blown out by some elite teams this season, like Tennessee and Maryland. Those results were bad, but a bigger indication of how far the program has fallen was its loss to Miami. The Hurricanes were by far the worst team in the ACC all season and had just one win prior to beating SU 91-84.

The Orange couldn’t get a stop to save their lives, allowing Miami to score 48 points in the second half and hit 56% of its shots. Every time Syracuse gained slight momentum with back-to-back scores, its defense couldn’t hold.

Justin Girshon: Maryland

Syracuse’s early season showing was uninspiring. Still, I wrote it showed promise for a hopeful NCAA Tournament return after a narrow loss to Texas Tech that swept it out of the Legends Classic. A month later, SU returned to the Barclays Center for a must-win Quad 1 game against Maryland if it wanted to start building an NCAA Tournament resume.

Instead, the Orange showed why they were the furthest they’ve been from the “Orange Standard” under Autry, suffering a blowout 87-60 loss. For me, this was the game that sealed Syracuse as having no chance of competing for anything of relevance in Autry’s second year at the helm.

Aiden Stepansky: Virginia Tech

Syracuse’s season was filled with plenty of embarrassing losses. While it’s easy to pinpoint some of the blowout contests against an eventual NCAA Tournament team, I’m going to go with a heartbreaker against another middling ACC foe.

Facing VT was an opportunity to knock off one of the conference’s worst offenses and possibly build on a win over NC State. Instead, the Orange allowed the Hokies to nearly score their game average in points in the second half and overtime combined, even giving up 19 points in the five-minute overtime. Oh yeah, and Virginia Tech was without its leading scorer, Tobi Lawal, who’s now famous for admitting how bad the Hokies were all year. Talk about an embarrassing result for SU.

Published on March 19, 2025 at 10:54 pm