Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

With the wrath of a sparsely-filled JMA Wireless Dome ready to burst in anger if Adrian Autry’s team lost a second straight winnable game, Syracuse did nothing to quell the flames. Less than two minutes remained in Wednesday’s contest against Virginia Tech when fans began to shout their boos and leave the venue en masse.

Time continues to tick on Autry’s job status as head coach. The Orange lost to the Hokies by two points, their second consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference defeat after falling to Boston College this past Saturday. SU is now amid its first losing streak since going 0-3 in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving Week.

On a night where Autry pulled out some untraditional cards — like giving bench guard Bryce Zephir 11 minutes and playing senior guard J.J. Starling just six minutes in the first half — the mad scientist couldn’t mix the right ingredients in the end. The Orange couldn’t find a way forward amid Donnie Freeman’s 3-for-14 night from the floor, epitomizing SU’s struggles.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (12-7, 3-3 ACC) 76-74 home loss to Virginia Tech (15-5, 4-3 ACC):

BC loss carries over in crunch time

Over the weekend in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, the Orange suffered one of their worst embarrassments of the Autry era: an 81-73 overtime defeat to Boston College.

In need of a valiant response, the Orange were favored to win Wednesday against the Hokies — a clear-cut opportunity for a Quad 2 win that they should nab with relative ease. But this one came down to the wire. Tied at 53-53 with under seven minutes left, Syracuse saved its worst basketball of the night for last, as its crunch-time woes proved to be the deciding factor.

The final minutes featured SU turning the ball over like wildfire and facing difficulties stopping VT guard Ben Hammond, who scored a team-best 24 points (16 in the second half). A notable turnover from White — where he threw the ball into the arms of Virginia Tech center Christian Gurdak — spurred a fast break chance for Hammond, who made a layup, drew an and-1 and cashed the free throw to put the Hokies ahead 59-53.

From there, the Orange couldn’t hit big shots with their backs against the wall. Or, even worse, they would not shoot and instead turn the ball over. Freeman coughed one up with SU down five; VT scored afterward. After George bricked a midrange jumper when Syracuse trailed 64-55, boos began to pump through the Dome crowd.

Though the boos quieted when SU somehow made it a three-point game and got the ball back with 21.5 seconds left, a Nate Kingz miss from 3 quieted its comeback chances. Its true final chance came on a rebound opportunity with five seconds left, down just three points, but Tyler Betsey lost a battle to VT’s Tobi Lawal, effectively ending the game.

Two defeats in a row versus very beatable opponents proves Syracuse has a lot of soul-searching to do. It was apparent that its loss in BC carried over to Wednesday’s performance, which frankly, can just not happen.

The William Kyle/Sadiq White show

William Kyle III and freshman Sadiq White gave the people what they wanted Wednesday night: high flying dunk after high flying dunk.

En route to his team-high 10 first-half points, Kyle was a menace around the rim, particularly on alley-oop opportunities. He got the Dome patrons on their feet early with an absurd alley-oop jam where Naithan George fed him from the top of the key and Kyle reached back with his arms fully extended to grab the ball and slam it.

Kyle rocked the rim again to close out the first half, bullying Hokies forward Amani Hansberry before throwing down a two-handed jam that put Syracuse ahead 37-27 at the time.

And White did much of the same, scoring 11 points in 15 minutes off the bench, most of which were energizing buckets at the rim.

However, the Orange couldn’t get the rock in Kyle’s hands in the second half, one of a few reasons for their offensive downturn over the final 20 minutes.

Bench bonanza

The ways in which Autry uses his bench are quite interesting. Usually, for his first rotation of the game, he empties his bench — similar to an ice hockey substitution strategy. Against VT, though, his first move was a small one. He swapped Kyle and Starling for White and Tyler Betsey, respectively, putting Freeman at the center position.

After this change took place five minutes into the game, the Orange built what was a two-point lead into a 10-point advantage. It started when a Betsey corner 3 forced a timeout from Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young, then got capped off by White converting a putback and drilling his own corner 3-pointer.

On the other side, White’s stout defense briefly stalled lengthy VT guard Neoklis Avdalas, which threw the Hokies’ offense out of whack.

But then Autry made more changes, which threw off the rhythm of his own team.

He put Zephir and Kiyan Anthony into the game, leaving Freeman as the only starter on the floor with two guards, White and Betsey. It was a lineup Syracuse had only featured for three total possessions prior to Wednesday’s game. Within a few minutes, its 10-point lead evaporated to three. Anthony and Zephir struggled to play defense in this rotation.

Autry has received some flack this year for not putting the pedal to the metal early, favoring early rest for his starters and sporting a 9-to-10 man rotation. It’s clear that won’t change.

“This team is good, and this team is going to be good because of our depth,” Autry said after last Saturday’s loss to Boston College. “I’m not going to stop playing guys, alright?”

Give Kingz his crown

Oregon State transfer guard Nate Kingz poured on a career-high 27 points for Syracuse over the weekend at Boston College, highlighted by a 5-for-6 mark from 3-point range. Would SU increase Kingz’s usage in its offense with the 3-point assassin riding a hot hand? The answer is yes, it would.

He dropped 11 points with a 3-for-7 final line from long range. The ball was in his hands early and often. Kingz continues growing into the perimeter-based impact player who Autry brought him in to be.

Kingz began the game by draining a shot-clock-beating 3 from the left wing over the outstretched right arm of VT guard Izaiah Pasha. Then, after the first under-16 timeout, Syracuse ran a play where Kingz curled around the top of the key from right to left, then received a hand-off from a posted-up Kyle before canning a tough pull-up 3.

Kingz’s pair of 3s to start the contest spearheaded Syracuse’s 7-for-12 mark from beyond the arc in the first half.

If Kingz can keep balling like he did Wednesday, his role on this SU squad will keep growing. He’s shot with more confidence over the last two games than he has all season.

SU adjusts to Avdalas mismatch

Avdalas, VT’s 6-foot-9 big guard with sneaky quickness who’s an innate size mismatch for any team in college basketball, brought some trouble to Syracuse’s defense early. He easily maneuvered around Starling and nailed a scoop layup for the game’s first bucket, a play that looked impossible for the much-smaller Starling to stop.

After all, Avdalas’ wingspan is a little over 6 feet 9 inches. How is a traditional guard supposed to stop him?

Autry adapted quickly by putting his lengthiest — yet quickest — forward, White, on Avdalas. In the six minutes of the first half where White guarded the abnormally-tall Avdalas, he held him to zero points. Avdalas no longer had the space he did against defenders like Starling or George. Against White, he was suffocated.

As a result, Avdalas only shot 4-for-15, including a 2-for-7 start, and finished with 10 points.

But those are numbers likely no fan in the Dome cared about after seeing their team drop another close contest.

Published on January 21, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Contact Cooper: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews