Previewing Syracuse men’s basketball’s battle vs. Kansas in Las Vegas
Syracuse will need strong guard play, particularly from Kiyan Anthony and J.J. Starling, to avenge its loss to Houston and beat Kansas Tuesday at the Players Era Festival. Aaron Hammer | Staff Photographer
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LAS VEGAS — There’s no easy way out in the Players Era Festival. A day after losing to Kelvin Sampson’s No. 3 Houston in overtime, Syracuse will battle Bill Self’s Kansas Tuesday.
Monday featured an unexpectedly quality performance from the Orange, who took the Cougars to the brink after a Tyler Betsey 3 with 54.6 seconds left tied the game at 67-67. It went into overtime, where Houston’s defense stalled SU’s half-court offense and handed Syracuse a 78-74 loss. Head coach Adrian Autry said the Orange aren’t taking a moral victory, though. But in a game where Syracuse didn’t have Donnie Freeman, it was as close as it gets.
Next, the Orange look to earn a crucial Quad 1 win against the Jayhawks, who will be without star freshman guard Darryn Peterson due to a hamstring injury.
Here’s what to know before Syracuse (4-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) takes on Kansas (4-2, 0-0 Big 12) in its second game of the 2025 Players Era Festival:
All-time series
The series is tied 3-3.
Last time they played
SU fell to Kansas 76-60 back on Dec. 2, 2017, at a neutral-site game in Miami. Under legendary head coach Jim Boeheim, the Orange fell behind by 14 points at halftime and couldn’t claw back.
Former Jayhawk guard Devonte Graham dropped a game-high 35 points while Lagerald Vick added 20. Though Syracuse guard Tyus Battle scored 23 to lead the team, it put on a horrible shooting display, finishing 18-for-56 overall and 6-for-27 from 3-point range. Battle and Frank Howard had more than half of the Orange’s made field goals.
KenPom odds
Syracuse has a 35% chance to win, with a projected final score of 76-72.
The Jayhawks report
Kansas’ first win over a power conference opponent this year came Monday at the Players Era in a 71-61 victory over Notre Dame. Before that, though, the Jayhawks dropped contests to then-No. 25 North Carolina and then-No. 5 Duke. Kansas allowed 87 points and a 52% shooting percentage against UNC and surrendered 78 points to the Blue Devils, who shot close to 50% and held the Jayhawks to a 19% clip from 3.
Even without Peterson’s 21.5 points per game, Kansas is still more than capable of competing against the nation’s best. It might not be the same Jayhawks team without him, but Self’s squad contains numerous solid scorers. There’s a reason he’s a two-time NCAA champion head coach.
The Jayhawks will run their operations through sophomore forward Flory Bidunga, who leads the team (among healthy players) with 16.7 points per game. Senior guard Tre White adds a solid scoring punch at 14.3 points a contest, and 6-foot-11 freshman forward Bryson Tiller is averaging nearly 10 points and six boards per game along with hitting seven 3s so far.
Kansas’ top distributor, point guard Melvin Council Jr., also averages 5.5 assists per game, using his 6-foot-4 frame to penetrate the lane and draw forwards open under the rim.
Self’s 2025-26 group has tons of height and loves blocking shots. The Jayhawks’ 19.6% blocked-shot percentage is the eighth-ranked rate in the country, per KenPom, and their own shots on offense get blocked just 5.9% of the time — the 29th-lowest percentage in D-I.
How Syracuse beats Kansas
The Orange already have all the help they’re going to receive with Peterson missing the entirety of the Players Era Festival. Plus, Kansas isn’t some world-beater. It went 0-2 in its two ranked matchups before Las Vegas. And it’s more than likely Autry and Co. noticed how susceptible to lapses this Jayhawk defense is.
However, no Freeman is a monumental loss for the Orange. Their paint presence was nonexistent against Houston. Versus Kansas, they need to take advantage of the one mismatch they do have: guard play.
Syracuse only stands a chance if Starling and Kiyan Anthony post massive scoring totals. SU needs to activate Starling’s mid-range game early and often, and it needs Anthony’s 6-foot-5 frame to penetrate the lane for some easy buckets.
At the same time, the Orange must create havoc forcing turnovers in the backcourt. Kansas’ defense struggles to force turnovers, ranking 330th in the nation with a 13.9% turnover percentage, per KenPom, and Syracuse needs to counter that by running ragged off steals in transition.
Stat to know: 26.7%
While Freeman’s absence puts a damper on SU’s rebounding ability, Kansas has some of its own deficiencies on the glass. The Jayhawks’ 26.7% offensive rebounding rate is the 74th-worst mark in Division I, per KenPom.
Forwards William Kyle III and Betsey, as well as freshman Sadiq White, are tasked with filling Freeman’s void down low. Taking advantage of Kansas’ sketchy execution on the offensive glass could help the Orange deliver an upset Quad 1 victory.
Player to watch: Flory Bidunga, forward, No. 40
The 6-foot-10, 235-pound Bidunga is a menace down low. An efficient scorer from the paint, tenacious rebounder and elite shot-blocker, Bidunga stands out as Kansas’ top healthy player. Per EvanMiya, Bidunga’s player performance rating sits at 7.08, which is among the nation’s best in that category.
Bidunga’s 7.7 boards per game and 2.7 blocks per contest are both team-highs. And the Congo native’s 69.8% shooting percentage ranks top 20 nationally.
Kyle and White will have their hands full on Tuesday. It should be an early litmus test to see how Syracuse’s depth can fare against a star big man like Bidunga.
