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Last time it took the floor, Syracuse men’s basketball suffered an embarrassment. Wednesday’s showing, though, featured nothing of the sort.

SU (7-4, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) downed Mercyhurst (4-8, 0-0 Northeast) 76-62 in the JMA Wireless Dome to get back in the win column after last Saturday’s upset home loss to Hofstra. J.J. Starling’s tied-for-season-high 15 points and the Orange’s suffocating defense, which held Mercyhurst to a 40% clip from the floor, carried them past the lowly Lakers.

Still, Syracuse’s triumph over Mercyhurst rang somewhat dull following one of the worst losses the team has suffered under head coach Adrian Autry — its 70-69 defeat to Hofstra, a mid-major program. The loss occurred two games after the Orange stunned then-No. 13 Tennessee, wiping away some of that crucial win’s impact.

Syracuse is sitting well behind the 8-ball as the 90th-overall team in the NCAA’s latest NET Rankings: the primary factor in deciding the NCAA Tournament field. It has a steep, uphill battle from here. But its journey began with a hope-injecting performance against one of KenPom’s lowest-rated teams.

It was clear from the jump Autry wanted to leave Wednesday’s contest with no holds barred. He deployed a two-guard press with Naithan George and Starling while the Orange led 4-0. George and Starling’s on-ball pressure caused Mercyhurst guards Bernie Blunt III and Jake Lemelman to take too much time getting across halfcourt, eliciting an 8-second violation. George scored a quick bucket afterward.

Then, following the first under-16 timeout, the Orange broke into a press defense and swarmed Lakers guard Deshaun Jackson Jr. SU guard Nate Kingz forced a turnover on Jackson and kicked the ball out to George, who weaved around the right block and fired a pass for Starling, who drained the wide-open 3-pointer from the left wing.

At that point, the Orange led 17-10, propelled by Starling’s 10 points within the first 10 minutes.

They embarked on an 11-4 run from there, which included four consecutive points in a dominant spurt from Kiyan Anthony, who finished with 12 points, and a deep George 3 to bring SU ahead 28-14.

Syracuse did much of its damage off Mercyhurst mistakes — finishing with 18 second-chance points and turning 15 Lakers turnovers into 18 points. Its half-court offense wasn’t very sharp; SU tallied one assist through the game’s opening 10 minutes and ended with just 12, and also turned the ball over 16 times (George had six of them). So, the Orange have many kinks to work out before ACC play. But that didn’t matter versus Mercyhurst.

Syracuse even shot well from the free-throw line. The Orange, the worst free-throw shooting team in all of Division I at 56.8%, went 12-for-16 (75%) from the stripe Wednesday, their best percentage in any game this year.

The story of the night, though, was Starling. It’s been well-documented that Starling is struggling to begin 2025-26. He averaged 10.0 points and 2.3 assists over his first eight games played. Against Mercyhurst, he crossed the 10-point threshold with 54 seconds left in the first half when he canned a 3. He finished with 13 first-half points on 5-for-6 shooting and closed the night with a 66.7% shot percentage.

Starling was aggressive from the get-go — on his first look of the night, he drove inside and cashed in a floater through contact — providing encouraging signs that SU’s star guard can end his rut soon.

George dished to Starling for a 3 to end the first half with the Orange up 39-23 over the Lakers. In the second half, a four-point stretch from William Kyle III — including an alley-oop jam off a feed from Starling and another bucket inside — gave SU an impenetrable 18-point lead.

Though the scoreboard says the Orange exerted dominance, they simultaneously displayed grave concerns. Their ball movement was stagnant. They turned the ball over 16 times, tied for second-most in a game this season. They allowed Mercyhurst to pull within 13 points as time wound down. They still were not the up-tempo team that Autry yearns for them to be.

If Syracuse can’t make it look easy against Mercyhurst, KenPom’s 35th-worst rated team in the nation, how will Autry and Co. fare in the ACC?

Published on December 17, 2025 at 9:01 pm
Contact Cooper: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews