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Amid the buzz of Calvin Russell III’s debut on Syracuse’s bench, the Orange still had a basketball game to play. And they took care of business. Not easily, though.

SU trailed to Florida State a few times late, but it held on to earn its third straight victory on Tuesday at the JMA Wireless Dome. The Orange downed the Seminoles 94-86, led by a scorching 59.7% shooting clip and a game-best 25 points from Donnie Freeman. Though Syracuse displayed wretched defense for its standards, it also dropped a season-high in points.

It completes a three-game span where the Orange defeated Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and now the Seminoles — a welcome hot stretch for Adrian Autry’s team early in conference play.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (12-5, 3-1 ACC) win over Florida State (7-10, 0-4 ACC).

Russell dresses for SU

Russell, Syracuse football’s prized five-star 2026 wide receiver recruit and two-sport athlete, dressed for SU’s basketball team for the first time Tuesday. The Daily Orange reported on Jan. 6 that Russell would, in fact, join the Orange’s hoops squad this season and enroll early.

Syracuse head coach Fran Brown was in attendance, sitting on the lower left bowl of the Dome across from SU’s bench. He was likely there to check on Russell and make sure he stays healthy. But he didn’t need to worry too much, because Russell didn’t play.

In pregame warmups, Russell looked pretty comfortable knocking down shots from beyond the arc and participating in layup lines with his new teammates. Time will tell if Autry gives him a chance to showcase his skills on the hardwood, though the idea of him ever playing Tuesday was far-fetched.

Uncharacteristic defense

To begin the contest, Syracuse displayed arguably its worst defense of the year. Florida State entered the game with the 11th-highest tempo rate in the country, per KenPom. In other words, the Seminoles play fast. Autry likes to think SU does, too. But the stats say otherwise.

That pace difference, on defense in particular, came back to bite Syracuse early. FSU ran up and down the court like it was nothing, draining 3s and bullying William Kyle III inside en route to an 11-3 opening-game run. Even after SU’s offense clawed back to trail 15-14, Seminoles guard Chauncey Wiggins buried two 3s after a media timeout. Then, forward Alex Steen scored a fast-break lay-in.

Syracuse gave up 23 points by a Florida State timeout with 11:16 left in the first half, a span in which the Seminoles shot 60% from the floor and 4-for-6 from 3-point range.

Another play that stood out was with six minutes to go in the first half, when FSU went rim to rim in about five seconds, and Robert McCray found Kobe MaGee wide-open for a corner 3. That put Syracuse down 33-28 at the time.

Even in the second half, after the Orange built a 57-47 lead, it rapidly vanquished once the Seminoles embarked on a 7-0 run across 58 seconds, capped off by a fast break bucket for MaGee (who totaled 20 points). Florida State took a three-point lead with less than 11 minutes left off a couple of second-chance baskets.

But the unabating buckets SU hit on the other end saved its defensive woes.

Beating the zone

FSU head coach Luke Loucks’ plan to thwart Syracuse’s offense? The 2-3 zone. The Seminoles broke out the all-too-familiar tactic to open the contest. Though it didn’t help a whole lot. SU, using a heavy dose of 3-pointers (finished 11-for-27 from downtown), rapid off-ball movement and pristine passing, scored mostly at will against Florida State.

Small forward Tyler Betsey came off Syracuse’s bench early in the first half and immediately took advantage of FSU’s zone. The Orange’s ball movement opened up an open pocket behind the arc at the left wing, a spot he canned the shot from. He nailed another deep 3 on his next attempt for a quick six-point burst.

Betsey finished Tuesday with 18 points on 6-for-9 3-point shooting, one of his best showings of the season.

The zone also didn’t prevent SU from getting the ball to its main characters, Freeman and J.J. Starling. As for Freeman, the 6-foot-9 forward posted 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting, along with eight rebounds. He was imposing inside and wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger from mid- and long-range if the defense gave him those looks.

Starling stayed steady after dropping 19 points in Pittsburgh last week, making his presence felt with a drive and up-and-under layup to recapture SU’s lead before halftime. The senior guard tallied 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting; he’s shown more aggression over the last few games than at the start of the year.

SU also broke the zone by going to Kyle inside. Early in the second half, the UCLA transfer threw down dunks on two straight possessions to bring Syracuse to a 50-40 lead, then its largest of the contest.

The Orange scored in every way, but their lacking defense — which also reverted to a zone before the end of the first half — was the bigger story.

George drops dimes

Point guard Naithan George came into Tuesday averaging more than three turnovers per game. Yet the reigning assists-per-game leader in the ACC also boasted 5.4 of those per contest thus far for Syracuse in 2025-26, leading the team.

He continued his trend of coughing it up a few times but making up for it with his distribution to open shooters — finishing with 13 assists and four turnovers against Florida State.

After dishing out a season-best 11 assists versus Pitt, George followed it up with another masterclass. His ball movement was particularly huge late in the first half when he assisted on back-to-back buckets for Syracuse: one down low to Kyle for a second-chance basket and another to Betsey for a fast break 3. SU took the lead seconds afterward.

To electrify the Dome in the second half, George lobbed one up for a soaring Kyle along the left baseline, and the big man ferociously slammed the alley-oop.

His passing initiated many of the Orange’s offensive sets down the stretch. Syracuse needed to purely outscore FSU to win, clearly not rely on defense, and George’s gaudy assist totals to cancel out his turnover-happy night paid major dividends.

SU shows up in the final minutes

After a Sadiq White technical foul essentially gave the Seminoles four free points, Syracuse only led 76-73 with 7:42 remaining. It gave the Orange a chance to rid their prior defensive issues and win the game with excellence in crunch time — and they did just that.

Nate Kingz began the late portion by draining a corner 3 off a feed from Kiyan Anthony in transition. Then it was the Freeman show, as the star sophomore blocked a layup from FSU’s Martin Somerville, then converted a 3-point play on the other end, where he made a highly difficult layup through contact.

Starling took his turn with SU up by just five points, drilling a mid-range jumper at the 3:15 mark and flashing a wide, confident smile afterward. But the true dagger came with 25 seconds left, when George fed Kyle for an emphatic alley-oop jam to increase Syracuse’s lead to six.

It probably could’ve been closer, though the Orange did enough late to leave the Dome victorious. That’s all that matters in the standings, right?

Published on January 13, 2026 at 11:34 pm
Contact Cooper: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews