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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Syracuse’s ugly 2025-26 campaign keeps getting harder to look at.

In another game where the Orange were within striking distance of their opponent, Adrian Autry’s squad got clamped down the stretch by Virginia as SU lost its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference bout. Despite Naithan George (19 points) and J.J. Starling (13 points) combining for 32, the Orange were ineffective from beyond the arc (3-for-11) and allowed too many strong spurts from the Cavaliers’ offense.

With seven regular-season games left, SU’s margin of error has never been lower this season.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (13-11, 4-7 ACC) 72-59 loss to No. 18 Virginia (20-3, 8-2 ACC) Saturday afternoon in John Paul Jones Arena:

Kiyan Anthony doesn’t play

You have to wonder what Carmelo Anthony thinks about this.

His son, freshman guard Kiyan Anthony, did not see the floor against the Cavaliers. It was the first time he’s logged zero minutes in any game this season.

The benching is interesting considering Kiyan’s family ties, but it’s not shocking. Kiyan is rated as one of ACC’s least valuable players, per EvanMiya’s player-performance ratings system. He’s been particularly weak on defense while taking tons of ill-advised shots on offense.

Instead of Kiyan, Autry tried Bryce Zephir out at point guard in the latter part of the first half. It didn’t work well offensively. SU’s half-court sets with Zephir were unorganized, like on a play where he penetrated the lane without keeping his eyes up, then threw an errant pass to William Kyle III that went out of bounds.

With the way George and Starling were playing, there wasn’t much incentive to put Kiyan in ahead of them.

Kiyan bore a stone-faced expression on the bench for the majority of the contest.

His benching came one game after Carmelo commented, “SMFH,” under an Instagram post related to Syracuse’s loss to No. 14 North Carolina on Monday night.

2-3 zone gets dissected

Autry swears that the 2-3 zone has paid dividends for the Orange. He felt the defensive strategy was part of why they clawed back into the game Monday night against North Carolina. Versus Virginia, Autry deployed the 2-3 zone pretty much the entire contest. The Cavaliers dissected it.

By using the 2-3 zone and full-court pressure, Autry seemingly wanted to force UVA — which moves at a tortoise-like pace — to play fast. The Orange were quick to trap shooters and tried to force quick passes to throw off Virginia’s rhythm.

That didn’t really work. SU left a litany of guys wide open, prevalent throughout UVA’s 12-0 run midway through the first half, and though it successfully trapped a few guys, that often came at the expense of leaving another shooter uncovered elsewhere. There were also a few easy buckets inside the restricted area that Syracuse allowed to Virginia’s Thijs De Ridder and Johann Grünloh, both coming due to gaps that formed because of the 2-3 zone.

The Cavaliers shot 41% from the field and made 10 3s — in a 2-3 zone, perimeter defense is often sacrificed. As is rebounding; UVA had 17 offensive rebounds compared to SU’s six.

When De Ridder hauled in an offensive board with 8:42 remaining, put it back up and induced a goaltend from Kyle to make it 59-48 UVA, the play underscored the issues with Syracuse’s 2-3 zone. The middle of the floor was wide open, and De Ridder took full advantage.

13-2 run keeps SU in it … but consistency still an issue

If only the Orange could harness and re-use the juice they displayed during their dominant 13-2 run late in the first half against Virginia. Though the consistency wasn’t there, SU still generated arguably its best scoring run of the season on Saturday.

After UVA’s Malik Thomas made a driving layup with 6:41 left before halftime, the Orange took three minutes to knot things up at 33-33. Their 2-3 defense worked better than ever in this stretch, and their top players stepped up to hit shots. Freeman kicked things off with a second-chance 3-point make off a dish from George, then Starling converted a fast break layup.

Another 2 from Starling, this time on a turnaround jumper, brought SU within six, and a 3-pointer from Tyler Betsey shockingly made it a 33-30 game. All of a sudden, following a tough and-1 lay-in from George, the Orange had climbed back from a frightening deficit and cut it to three points by halftime.

It goes to show you how good a team Syracuse is when it plays to its potential. However, the Orange rarely are. Against Virginia, there were too many “dips,” as Autry calls them, none worse than allowing a 12-0 run.

Down the stretch, SU’s offense reverted to moving at the speed of molasses in half-court sets, the opposite of how it performed during its 13-2 run.

George provides a spark

Syracuse’s saving grace against Virginia was none other than George, its expensive transfer-portal point guard who has struggled with turnovers this season. Against UVA, George tallied 19 points on nearly 90% shooting and added three assists. And his 3-for-3 start from the floor in the game’s first eight minutes helped SU keep matters close. At least, initially.

George had his most aggressive game of the season. He was unafraid to initiate offense himself, never hesitating to penetrate the lane and take the ball to the cup. It paid off. He started 5-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line for a team-best 13 first-half points. And, besides a double-dribble, George kept silly mistakes to a minimum.

The point guard opened the second half by cashing in on a jumper for his 14th and 15th points of the afternoon. He responded to a huge Virginia 3-pointer by nailing another mid-range jumper midway through the second. He didn’t miss a shot until there was 3:10 remaining.

George was completely unconscious from the field. Still, his turnover problems resurfaced in the second half — he coughed the ball up five times overall despite just one first-half turnover.

Any chances left for a statement win?

Saturday’s loss dropped Autry’s career record in Quad 1 games to 4-23. Syracuse is 1-6 versus Quad 1s this season alone. It sat at No. 69 in the NCAA’s NET Rankings heading into this weekend and will likely plummet further.

What opportunities remain for the Orange to capture a signature ACC win?

Well, there aren’t many. As of now, SU has four Quad 1 games left on its schedule: at Duke (Feb. 16), versus UNC (Feb. 21), at Wake Forest (Feb. 28) and at Louisville (March 3).

The Orange are essentially eliminated from being an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. But they simply need to snag a victory or two in those contests to give themselves hope heading into mid-March’s ACC Tournament. At this point, winning the ACC is Syracuse’s only path to ending its postseason drought.

Beating Virginia on Saturday certainly would’ve changed things, though.

Published on February 7, 2026 at 2:13 pm
Contact Cooper: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews