5 questions Syracuse faces before battling elite programs in Las Vegas
As the Orange travel to Las Vegas, Adrian Autry's squad has several key questions it must answer ahead of the Players' Era Championship. Avery Magee | Assistant Photo Editor
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
The team that’s played the easiest schedule in the country is about to square off against some of the NCAA’s best.
Syracuse’s strength of schedule net rating of -16.35, per KenPom. The second-lowest mark is Seton Hall’s -16.17 rating. The Orange performed near-flawlessly against Binghamton, Delaware State and Drexel, but looked out of sorts in a narrow win over Monmouth on Tuesday. Now, the real campaign begins.
SU begins its quest in Las Vegas’ Players Era Championship Monday against No. 2 Houston. How’s that for a challenge? Head coach Adrian Autry’s squad will compete against NCAA Tournament-ready teams throughout Thanksgiving week in Sin City, where the world will assess if the Orange belong in that category, too.
Here are five crucial questions facing Syracuse (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) ahead of the Players Era Championship, which takes place from Monday through Thursday:
Can the Orange possibly stall No. 2 Houston?
Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson brought a gritty attitude to Houston’s program when he took over in 2014. They’re known for their defense, but they always have a few dominant scorers to annually propel them to national title contention. It’s exactly the type of team Autry wants to build year-in and year-out. However, the Orange are not close to Houston’s level yet.
Sampson’s squad ranks first in the country in defensive rating, per EvanMiya. KenPom also considers Houston the nation’s top defense. Offensively, the Cougars aren’t as dominant and don’t shoot the 3-ball with much volume, but their backcourt tandem of freshman Kingston Flemings (17.4 points per game) and redshirt senior Emanuel Sharp (16.0) poses a significant threat.
For Syracuse to compete well against Houston, it must fulfill its identity. The Orange’s players and coaches say their roster is built to win with elite defense. They went out and got shot-blocking threat William Kyle III to complement forward Donnie Freeman, and they recruited Sadiq White to produce defensive excellence. Their backcourt defense is still relatively unknown, though.
Guards J.J. Starling and Nate Kingz said SU has to improve its rebounding after only out-boarding Monmouth by one. But if the Orange can do that against Houston, their players will know they’re playing to their identity — and would, in turn, have a fighter’s chance.
“We got to be a lot more gritty, in terms of cracking down on rebounds and box outs,” Kingz said after its win over Monmouth. “If we can do that in Vegas, we’ll have a really great shot at winning the championship.”
“We pride ourselves on defense,” Kingz added.
What does Starling have in store?
The Orange’s reigning scoring champion, Starling, is off to a misfortunate start in 2025-26. He quickly injured his hamstring in SU’s season-opening victory over Binghamton and missed its next two games. Starling returned against Monmouth, but went 2-for-5 at the free-throw line as he shook off the rust. Frustrated about his charity stripe performance, Starling offered no excuses.
“That’s supposed to be a time where you get easy points, you relax,” Starling said. “I didn’t do that. I wasn’t focused.”
Starling will likely need to recapture his peak form for Syracuse to have a chance at surprising people in the Players Era Championship. He wasn’t as decisive penetrating the lane against Monmouth — so don’t expect him to hesitate in Las Vegas. Though Kiyan Anthony and Freeman did well as SU’s best scoring options with Starling out, the senior guard is its only player who can take over games offensively.
Time will tell whether the Orange get a rusty or ready Starling in this tournament.
“Things ain’t going as planned, but J.J. is going to always be J.J. Starling and I feel like, come Vegas, he will show up for sure,” White said.
How will the freshmen handle the spotlight?
Anthony and White’s confidence is through the roof. And they didn’t even play well last game. Anthony finished 2-for-9 from the floor after Monmouth blitzed him on off-ball screens all game. White, meanwhile, fouled out.
Talking to them postgame, they’re ready to move on to Las Vegas.
Anthony said “it is what it is” when discussing the Hawks’ increased pressure on him and promised to figure out how to find a rhythm faster. White laughed off his five fouls, saying he thought he was playing rather conservatively, but said he needs to be smarter regardless and be available throughout the game.
We’ve seen the two freshmen display electric energy through their disparate playstyles — marked by Anthony’s ability to effortlessly knock down tough shots and White’s high-flying and ferocious nature at the rim. Now, as they prepare for their debuts in the national spotlight with Syracuse, Anthony and White could spark shocking results if they play to their potential. White says that in order to do so, they just need to meet Autry’s expectations.
“I’ll do whatever coach needs me to do; I’m going to do all the dirty work. If you need me to score, I’ll score. Guard the best player, I’ll guard the best player. Just (need) to go out there and execute everything (Autry) asks us,” White said.
The two freshmen inject hope into a team seen as a major underdog this week.
“We could definitely (win) both of those games, if not both of those games out in Vegas,” Anthony said.
Does SU have enough size?
Speaking of rebounding, the Orange have both concerns and things to prove when it comes to size. They beat Monmouth on the glass 36-35. Everyone in SU’s locker room postgame said that’s unacceptable. Including its top guard in Starling, who said he and the rest of the backcourt need to be more aggressive crashing the boards.
“I think we only outrebounded them by one,” Starling said. “To get to where we want to go, that can’t be the result. No matter who we’re playing. And we knew that coming into the season, we knew rebounding was going to be a focus for us. That’s something we need to work on.”
The tough part for Syracuse, though, is its lack of size. The Orange’s tallest rotational players are all 6-foot-9 — Kyle, White, Freeman and Akir Souare. The Cougars boast 6-foot-11 forward Chris Cenac Jr., who leads Houston with 7.4 rebounds per game, and a physical 6-foot-8 Joseph Tugler, who averages 5.8 boards a game. Houston secures 37.8% of offensive rebounds, a top-50 rate in Division I.
The Cougars’ roster reflects SU’s reality against most teams: It’s a fairly small-statured group. Especially considering Syracuse’s most-used lineup features three guards and two forwards.
What would be a successful week for Syracuse?
At Syracuse’s preseason media day, Autry bluntly said his motivations for entering this event were to help the Orange regain national prominence. If SU wasn’t in a tournament like this, he said, everyone would question its worth.
So, while Syracuse has the chance to obtain crucial Quad 1 victories to boost its end-of-season NCAA Tournament resume, Autry is probably more concerned with SU at least looking competitive against some of the sport’s best programs. He lamented the Orange’s lackadaisical motor against Monmouth, saying they didn’t come out ready for a battle.
And he thinks the sky’s the limit for Syracuse when it simply gives an effort.
“If we practice the way we need to practice, then our energy level will be fine,” Autry said after the Monmouth game. “We’ve done that for the most part. Today was the first game where (we didn’t). We just got to keep getting to our (high) energy level in practice.”
