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When all else fails, sometimes you just need your top dogs to have their best days. Adrian Autry, in desperate need of a spark, received that gift Saturday in the form of Nate Kingz and J.J. Starling.

Starling, SU’s highly scrutinized senior guard, delivered his best outing of the year against Notre Dame when the Orange needed it most. For Kingz, an emphatic two-handed jam and ensuing and-1 in the final seconds helped seal a 28-point performance for the senior. More importantly, it sealed a victory for a head coach who’s sitting firmly on the hot seat.

Syracuse (13-9, 4-5 ACC) defeated Notre Dame (11-11, 2-7 ACC) 86-72 in the JMA Wireless Dome, snapping the Orange’s four-game losing streak. Starling dropped a season-best 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting, putting SU on his back with 17 first-half points against his former team. His fellow guard, Kingz, had a game-high in points, acting as a sniper from beyond the arc all night long.

Saturday evening brought Autry’s team a great chance to get hot. Syracuse hosted a Notre Dame squad that had lost six of its last seven games. And for once, SU put an inferior opponent in its place.

Syracuse held ND to pedestrian shooting numbers; 27% from 3-point range. The Orange built a big advantage off an 11-0 first-half run and never turned back, finishing with a 57% clip from the field and just six turnovers, tied for their third-fewest in any game this season.

Starling and Kingz (eight combined 3-point makes) and center William Kyle III (10 points, eight rebounds) allowed SU to separate itself from ND. Point guard Naithan George was crucial, too, tallying 10 assists and zero turnovers for one of his best games of the campaign.

Though the eventual result became inevitable early, the night began under mysterious circumstances.

SU’s star sophomore, Donnie Freeman, sat on the bench to begin the game. Freshman Sadiq White Jr. started in favor of the 6-foot-9 forward, who averages a team-high 19.2 points per game.

An SU team spokesperson said nothing was wrong with Freeman and that the team was simply “trying something new.”

After Syracuse’s previous contest, a brutal 88-68 loss at NC State Tuesday night, Autry said White was his only player exerting 100% effort out there. There’s no confirmation if Freeman’s benching versus Notre Dame was a punishment, but Autry’s move certainly sent a message.

“Everything is on the table,” Autry said after the Wolfpack crushed the Orange.

Freeman didn’t enter until the 12:02 mark of the first half. The Orange and Fighting Irish were tied at 12-12 at that point. But once Freeman got in the mix, Syracuse’s ball movement immediately improved.

SU efficiently swung the ball around in the half-court offense en route to three consecutive 3-pointers, including two from Starling, which forced ND head coach Micah Shrewsberry to call a timeout with 9:53 on the clock. A Kiyan Anthony free throw gave Syracuse a double-digit scoring run — otherwise known as a “kill shot,” a metric Autry covets.

That run was the difference in the first half. Starling’s 17 first-half points (7-for-7 shooting, 3-for-3 from 3-point range) gave Syracuse a steady cushion, up 40-31 at halftime.

Excellence from the perimeter, on both ends, continued to be a priority for Syracuse in the second half. Kingz buried a 3 in the first few seconds after the halftime break, then the Orange forced ND guard Cole Certa to chuck up a 3 from the top of the key that air balled.

The Fighting Irish keyed in more on Starling, but SU adjusted by taking what Notre Dame’s defense gave it; Kingz cashed in on a dribble penetration and floater to highlight the first five minutes of the second half.

All the while, ND made Freeman a non-factor. He scored two first-half points and finished with seven points on 1-of-4 shooting. Autry kept Freeman on the bench to begin the final 20 minutes, sitting him for a five-minute stretch that SU controlled for the most part.

It didn’t matter that Freeman didn’t do much. His teammates — particularly Starling, Kingz and Kyle — stepped up big-time.

A Kingz 3 midway through the second half that put SU up 57-44, his fourth of the night, set the tone for the remainder of the contest.

Syracuse showed some heart against Notre Dame, valiantly responding and ending its worst losing skid of the Autry era. The vicious boos that infiltrated SU’s last two home games were not present Saturday.

But it’ll take significantly more than beating a Markus-Burton-less Fighting Irish team for Autry and Co. to quell the negativity being spouted toward Syracuse’s program right now.

Published on January 31, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Contact Cooper: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews