Syracuse drops 3rd straight in 85-76 home loss vs. Miami
Syracuse dropped its third straight game Saturday, falling at home to Miami 85-76. Leonardo Eriman | Senior Staff Photographer
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As he chewed gum and repeatedly glanced at the scoreboard to check the deficit, Adrian Autry appeared otherwise confident his team could generate a late comeback Saturday versus Miami.
Syracuse’s third-year head coach had his players and assistants in a full-team huddle during the under-8-minute media timeout. The Orange trailed by 11. They needed to play their best basketball from there on out in order to win. After Tyler Betsey drilled a 3-pointer following the timeout, Autry raised his hands to the sky in celebration — maybe, just maybe, this is our time.
It wasn’t. Not even close.
With chatter surrounding Autry’s job status at its peak, Syracuse (12-8, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) lost its third straight game Saturday, falling to Miami (16-4, 5-2 Atlantic Coast) 85-76 in the JMA Wireless Dome. A chance to secure a Quad 2 win escaped the Orange’s grasp as porous defense and nonexistent 3-point shooting (they finished at 29%) heavily cost them against a high-quality Hurricanes squad.
Miami star forward Malik Reneau’s game-high 20 points simultaneously killed Syracuse’s chances of an upset win.
Three minutes and 27 seconds past the opening tipoff, Syracuse’s student section broke into an impassioned “Fire Autry” chant. Autry had just called a timeout with the Orange down 9-0 to begin the contest. They were 0-for-4 from the floor, coughed up two turnovers and defended with no tenacity.
On a day where a victorious result could flip SU’s currently-gloomy script into a hopeful one, Autry’s team looked flat-out unprepared.
Though that briefly changed, spurred by point guard Naithan George nailing two 3-pointers after Autry’s first timeout, Syracuse’s early struggles set the tone for another losing performance.
Sure, there were moments. The Orange embarked on an 8-2 run at the midway point of the first half, highlighted by a Sadiq White alley-oop slam off a feed from William Kyle III. And, after J.J. Starling missed a mid-range jumper, White threw down a putback jam to bring SU within three points of tying Miami.
No series of plays held a candle to what Kiyan Anthony did late in the first half, though. The freshman hit Hurricanes guard Tre Donaldson with a nasty step-back move along the left wing and buried a long-range shot. Then, Anthony took advantage of a fast break chance by posterizing Miami’s Tru Washington — a two-handed jam that sent the Dome into madness.
Carmelo Anthony, sitting courtside, loved it and shouted words of encouragement toward his son. SU’s resident offspring of a Hall of Famer had brought the Orange to a tie game, 27-27, against Miami.
But when the Hurricanes put their best five on the court, Syracuse couldn’t stop them.
Miami went on a 7-0 run over a one-minute stretch after Anthony’s crowd-rocking moments. Reneau, its star forward and leading scorer (19.6 points per game), scored five points in that timeframe. A transition 3-pointer from Donaldson widened the gap, as did a Shelton Henderson second-chance bucket to close out the first half with the Orange down 41-36.
Out of the halftime locker room, Syracuse emerged a more-efficient team. It started the second half 4-for-6 from the floor, taking high-percentage shots and displaying solid man defense on the other end, though Reneau kept giving SU trouble.
Before the midway point of the second half, two plays drastically altered the Orange’s rhythm. With SU down 50-48, Starling penetrated the lane on a transition chance before trying a game-tying layup. It was blocked by Miami center Ernest Udeh Jr. The Hurricanes promptly blazed downcourt and Henderson converted a fast break lay-in.
What could’ve been a game-tying layup from Starling became a momentum-sinker.
Merely a few minutes later, Starling had another chance to inject energy throughout the Dome. After Starling stole the ball from Miami forward Timo Malovec on the perimeter, the senior guard charged toward the rim with his eyelids as wide as could be — he saw a prime opportunity for a game-shifting dunk.
His attempt? A LeBron James-esque one-handed tomahawk slam. His result? A ball that bounced off the rim and into the arms of Noah Lobdell on SU’s bench.
Seconds later, Malovec knocked down a 3 to give the Hurricanes a 62-55 advantage.
SU’s home faithful reverted to booing again once Miami completed a 7-0 run over a minute and a half span. Syracuse trailed 69-56 at the 9:41 mark. You could literally feel the depleted hope inside the Dome. It didn’t feel like a basketball game; it felt like an obligatory work function that you just can’t wait to end.
Now sitting below .500 in conference play in late-January, the Orange don’t have much time left to rewrite the narrative on their disappointing 2025-26 season.
