Syracuse, N.Y. — If the sight of students rushing the court after Syracuse basketball’s 62-60 win over No. 13 Tennessee made you roll your eyes, maybe consider giving them a pass, Boomer.
Seeing the Orange win big games is a muscle they have to build up again after a four-year NCAA Tournament drought and absence from the Associated Press Top 25 that is approaching its seven-year anniversary (Dec. 10, 2018).
As YouTube commenter Fractal_Nature astutely observed: “If you weren’t there, you have no clue, straight up. The vibes were off the charts.”
The vibes indeed were off the charts at the JMA Wireless Dome on Tuesday night as the Orange banked a much-needed signature non-conference win after an busted trip to Las Vegas.
SU got its first win over a ranked team since an 86-79 win over No. 7 North Carolina on Feb. 13, 2024 and first regular-season win over a ranked non-conference opponent since a 72-62 win over No. 16 Ohio State on Nov. 28, 2018.
The Orange did it with a mixture of grit, clutch free-throw shooting (well, sort of) embracing defense and a little luck.
SU center William Kyle III hosted a block party with six rejections of Tennessee shots and iced the game at the free throw line.
Yes, the UCLA transfer center with the, uh, we’ll call it “unique” free-throw stroke, who has shot 41.7% at the charity stripe this season, stepped to the line and made one of two free throws with 13 seconds remaining to give SU a 61-60 lead over Tennessee.
“One free throw,” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said with a grin after SU’s win. “That’s all we needed was one, right? He stepped up big time.”
Big games are won by big-time players, and SU got the performance it needed out of its senior leader to take down Tennessee.
JJ Starling was a heat-seeking missile against the Vols, scoring 12 points and recording three steals while guarding projected NBA lottery pick Nate Ament.
Starling hit a 3-pointer and midrange jumper down the stretch to give SU a 60-56 lead. His pass to Kyle with 13.8 seconds left resulted in a Tennessee foul and Kyle’s clutch free throw.
Starling knows that if he is going to play in his first NCAA Tournament game in an Orange uniform, SU has to learn how to punch up and bank wins like the one it did on Tuesday night.
“It shows what we really could be,” Starling said of SU’s win over the Vols. “We have to be more consistent, but we are one of those teams that is considered highly ranked. We just have to believe it and work like it everyday.”
Fifth-year wing Nate Kingz was given an open lane to the basket time-after-time and cashed in 19 points before Tennessee knew what hit them.
“I don’t mean to be cocky or nothing, but it didn’t really seem like they scouted me because I was able to get to my left hand every time, Kingz said. ”The hoop just kept getting bigger after that.”
Add in freshman forward Sadiq White being one point off a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, SU converting 24 points off 17 turnovers and the Vols saying “hold my beer” to SU’s free-throw shooting woes by recording a worse percentage (53% to SU’s 59%), and you had the recipe for the signature win in the Autry era.
All of this without leading scorer Donnie Freeman, who sat out with an undisclosed lower-body injury for the fourth-straight game.
The good news there is Freeman is free of a walking boot, which he wore during all three games out in Las Vegas last week, and could be be back at anytime for the Orange.
There’s a fine line between the conversation we are having after this win versus the one we could be having had Tennessee pulled off the victory in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Tuesday instead.
NCAA Tournament bids are not earned in December, but they can be lost.
No one handed out a trophy after Tuesday’s win over the Vols, but an 0-4 mark in the four-game stretch of Houston, Kansas, Iowa State and Tennessee, who are all ranked in the Top 20 of the ever-important NCAA NET rankings, would hover with this team like the stench of burned microwave popcorn.
The trip to Vegas was full of woulda, coulda and shoulda.
Beating Tennessee showed there is opportunity ahead instead of obligation.
As for the court-storming, Autry wouldn’t mind seeing more of those as a sign that Syracuse basketball is rising again.
“That’s college basketball,” Autry said. “It’s fun for our students that are a big part of it, our community. We want to have more of those.
“When they are storming the court, that’s a good sign.”
