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For the first time since getting upset by Hofstra at home on Saturday, Syracuse returned to action, hosting Mercyhurst. The Lakers entered the matchup as the worst team SU will face this season, ranked as KenPom’s No. 331 team and EvanMiya’s No. 324 team in the country.

Donnie Freeman missed his seventh game with a lower-body injury, but he warmed up for the first time since sustaining his injury. Even in his absence, Syracuse cruised to a wire-to-wire win.

J.J. Starling helped kick-start the Orange’s offense en route to a tied-for-season-high 15 points, while William Kyle III had a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double. Meanwhile, Sadiq White Jr. (13), Kiyan Anthony (12) and Naithan George (12) all scored in double figures.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (7-4, ACC) 76-62 win over Mercyhurst (4-8, Northeast):

Starting starts hot, ties season-high 15 points.

Across the board, Starling’s offense is down from when he averaged a team-best 17.8 points per game last year. After SU lost to Hofstra, Starling said he “just wants to win” when discussing his usage dip. But with the Orange just over .500 through their first 10 games, it begged the question: Should Starling be more aggressive?

In the early going against Mercyhurst, the answer to that question was yes. On SU’s second offensive possession, Starling glided his way inside before connecting with a jumper. A minute and a half later, he again drove to the basket before making a floater, giving Syracuse an 8-3 lead.

Starling then added three points on an and-one and another three off a 3-point make over the ensuing two minutes, giving him 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting five minutes in.

Despite the hot start, Starling only attempted two more shots the rest of the half. A 3-point make in the final minute of the half gave him 13 at the break, mirroring his first half against Hofstra.

However, like when Starling finished with 15 points against Hofstra, he was far less aggressive in the second half. The senior only attempted three shots across the final 20 minutes, finishing with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

While he slowed down in the second half, Anthony percolated en route to his dozen points, George bounced back with 12 points, while Kyle and White dominated inside throughout.

What’s the offensive identity?

Adrian Autry wanted his team to play fast heading into the season. Instead, the Orange’s KenPom adjusted tempo ranks 185th in the nation, and they’ve struggled to establish an offensive identity.

That was no different on Wednesday. As it has most of the season, Syracuse emphasized a “drive and kick” philosophy, where the ball handler looks to get inside and kicks to a teammate on the perimeter if he doesn’t have a good look. The four players without the ball are often standing still on the perimeter.

While the answer on what the Orange’s offensive identity is remains unclear, it is clear that it isn’t scoring after swinging the rock. Heading into the matchup against Mercyhurst, SU assisted just 51.9% of its scores, the 201st-best clip in the country.

The Orange had three assists in the first half before finishing the contest with 12. The biggest difference was that Syracuse created advantageous situations in transition, which helped them double their assist total just over four minutes into the second half.

All three of those looks came at the rim, first leading to a White dunk, before Kyle slammed home an easy two points on back-to-back possessions to five SU a 47-29 lead at the 15:46 mark.

What Autry likely envisions as the offensive identity is what happened out of the ensuing timeout. In a half-court set, George had the ball at the top of the key before White cut down the baseline from the corner for an easy alley-oop.

Still, SU finished the game assisting just 12 of its 30 made field goals. This is the Orange’s fifth game with 12 or fewer assists this year.

Rebound advantage

While not necessarily ideal because it usually means missed shots were abundant — Syracuse shot 49.2% from the field — the Orange held an 18-13 second-chance points advantage over Mercyhurst. While not a good indication of a high field goal percentage, it’s typically a good indication of dominating the glass.

That’s what SU did, out-rebounding the Lakers 39-32. And it’s exactly what should happen against one of the worst teams in college basketball. While Autry mentioned that rebounding has always been a concern — typically, Kyle, standing 6-foot-9, is his tallest player on the court — it’d be difficult to imagine that happening against a Mercyhurst squad whose tallest player is 6-foot-9 and didn’t even play Wednesday.

Kyle led the Orange with 10 rebounds, while White was right behind with a tied for career-high nine. Though Syracuse isn’t the biggest team, it was clear the squad wearing white was a Power 4 conference team, and the one wearing blue was a mid-major.

Though Mercyhurst cut its deficit to 66-53 with around four minutes remaining, a Kyle offensive rebound leading to an and-one fittingly helped put the game away.

Shooting struggles persist

In a battle between the two worst free-throw shooting teams in the country, missed free throws were practically a guarantee on Wednesday evening. Mercyhurst went 7-of-10 from the charity stripe, while SU notched a season-best 75.0%, making 12-of-16 attempts.

It’s only the Orange’s second game (73.3% against Drexel) where they’ve shot better than 70% from the free-throw line. Though Syracuse had its best free-throw shooting performance, that didn’t extend to 3-point shooting.

SU shot 4-of-17 from beyond the arc, continuing their outside shooting woes. Before facing Mercyhurst, the Orange’s 30.5% ranked 283rd. While it was encouraging to see Starling go 2-of-4, he was Syracuse’s only player to make multiple triples or shoot over 50% from beyond the arc. George and Anthony had SU’s other makes.

Luckily for Syracuse, Mercyhurst also struggled from beyond the arc, shooting 5-of-18. Against a better team, losing the 3-point won’t cut it. Against the Lakers? It didn’t matter too much.

Published on December 17, 2025 at 9:16 pm
Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon