Observations from SU’s win over Tennessee: Kingz’s spark, clutch plays
Syracuse held off Tennessee down the stretch to come away with a two-point, upset victory, its first Quad 1 win of the year. Eli Schwartz | Staff Photographer
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Syracuse’s most-hyped basketball season in years began with the Orange going winless across three Quad 1 opportunities. But now, it’s finally got one.
After losing three straight last week in Las Vegas at the Players Era Festival — where SU fell to No. 8 Houston, No. 21 Kansas and No. 10 Iowa State — Adrian Autry’s squad put itself in a precarious position. As lead college basketball insider Jon Rothstein wrote Monday, the Orange needed to upset No. 13 Tennessee to have a chance at making the NCAA Tournament.
And somehow, they did it.
Even without star forward Donnie Freeman for the fourth straight game, Syracuse made clutch play after clutch play in the game’s final minutes and held on to shock Tennessee, as fans stormed the JMA Wireless Dome court postgame. Nate Kingz dropped a team-best 19 points, and the Orange escaped with a narrow victory — arguably the most important of Autry’s tenure.
Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (5-3, Atlantic Coast) wild 62-60 win over No. 13 Tennessee (7-2, Southeastern) Tuesday in the ACC/SEC Challenge:
Starling’s show
SU’s top guard, J.J. Starling, has left much to be desired a few weeks into the 2025-26 season. He entered Tuesday versus Tennessee averaging fewer than 10 points per game. He was shooting 35.7% from the free-throw line. He hadn’t delivered on his preseason expectations.
Then he changed the narrative in the final minutes against Tennessee.
With the Orange trailing 56-55 with less than three minutes remaining, Starling put the team on his back by canning a deep 3 from the right wing and knocking down a mid-range jumper on Syracuse’s next possession. He gave SU a 60-56 lead with his clutchest stretch of the season thus far.
Starling finished with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting — not eye-popping numbers by any means. But he played stout defense throughout the night, forcing Tennessee star guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie to pedestrian totals, and he came through when it mattered the most.
Kingz provides a spark
When no one else stepped up consistently, Kingz did.
Kingz, an Oregon State transfer guard, dropped an SU team-high 19 points on 6-for-10 shooting, all of which came in the first half. He most notably took over at the end of the first, when he embarked on a brief stretch where he scored 12-of-14 points for Syracuse.
He was pulling from 3 without hesitation and seemingly couldn’t miss any floater or jumper inside the arc. Early in the first half, he scored five straight points, including a deep 3 from the left wing and a physical bucket inside. He finished through contact again later in the half while working on Jaylen Carey on the left block in a mismatch.
The Volunteers closely keyed in on Kingz in the second half, sending two to face him on the perimeter at times. After single-handedly being the reason for Syracuse entering halftime with a 32-30 lead, Kingz was kept quiet in the second half. He didn’t register a second-half shot.
Still, that was by far the best Kingz has played in a Syracuse uniform. It’ll need more excellence from Kingz as SU ramps up for ACC play.
Life without Freeman
It’s tough to win without your star. Syracuse suffered throughout the Players Era by not having a top-dog scorer against teams that boasted multiple elite options. Starling struggled to make buckets. The highly-touted freshmen, Kiyan Anthony and Sadiq White, were erratic. George became turnover-prone each time the opposition sent a double team his way.
In SU’s fourth game without Freeman, its inconsistencies continued; offensively and defensively.
White got into foul trouble instantly, exiting at the 15:29 mark of the first half with two personals. That left the door open for the Volunteers to start living inside as Carey went 5-for-7 shooting under the rim in the first half. Tennessee closed the game with 15 second-chance points to Syracuse’s six, much due to not having Freeman. White and William Kyle III didn’t hold their ground incredibly well against Carey and star big Nate Ament.
And in the half-court, it really hurt the Orange not having Freeman’s physical presence. Their spacing was off. They struggled feeding their bigs inside. They couldn’t create many open lanes via the pick-and-roll or any off-ball screens. But worst of all, SU didn’t have its best scorer. And besides Kingz, everyone else was ineffective from the field.
Perimeter problems
The Orange displayed a strong willingness to fire from 3-point range during their 0-3 trip to Las Vegas. They averaged 29.67 3-point attempts per game (89 over three days) yet converted at an abysmal 25.84% rate. Maybe it had something to do with playing catch-up most of those games, though it’s clear Autry thinks SU needs perimeter excellence to win Quad 1 contests.
Well, Syracuse chucked up a bunch of 3s again Tuesday. It didn’t go spectacularly.
The Orange ended the contest with a 5-for-19 mark from 3-point range, good for a measly 26%. The player SU obtained for the purpose of nailing 3-pointers is Kingz, who put the Orange ahead 8-5 early with a 3-point make from the left wing.
Kingz drained two 3s in the first half. No other Syracuse players made one. Though the Orange still played a solid game, they’ll need better performances from deep going forward.
SU puts another team on the ropes … and finishes
The aura was palpable. With 11:50 left in Tuesday’s game, Anthony received a pass from George and wrapped his hands around the ball with his feet beyond the 3-point line in the left corner, right in front of SU’s student section. Anthony did a little shimmy and buried the triple, eliciting pandemonium from the Dome faithful and a row of stunned faces along Tennessee’s visiting sideline.
Syracuse had the Volunteers right where it wanted them. It held a 50-41 lead at the time and was on a 16-7 run. For the Orange, it was another prime chance to secure an elusive Quad 1 victory — necessary to determine a team’s NCAA Tournament standing.
Yet for a moment, just like it did against Houston and Kansas last week, SU let its foot off the gas. Tennessee immediately posted a 10-0 run and carved out a 51-50 lead with 7:33 left. After Syracuse stalled Ament the entire night, it allowed the star freshman to knock down a corner 3 to give the Volunteers a 56-55 advantage with 4:20 left. On the other end, SU struggled getting the ball to Kingz — the Orange’s best shooter all night long.
But that didn’t matter. In came the aforementioned Starling, who gave the Orange a four-point lead as the clock ticked past the 2:00 mark. And on a 1-and-1 free-throw attempt from Tennessee’s Felix Okpara with 1:48 left, White muscled through multiple Volunteers big men to secure a massive rebound.
Syracuse kept making plays until the very end — when Kyle converted a go-ahead free throw with 13 seconds left and the Orange stalled Ament at the rim for the game’s final stop, clinching Autry’s biggest win as a head coach.
