Guard J.J. Starling must be the go-to guy for Syracuse basketball this season

Even on the heels of the biggest win of the Adrian Autry era on Tuesday night against Tennessee, plenty of questions linger about the 2025-26 Syracuse Orange basketball team. One such question is who is truly the team's best offensive player and go-to guy in big spots.

Finding the answer to that question has been complicated by the injury to Donnie Freeman. However, regardless of when Freeman returns to the lineup, it should be clear that the go-to player for Syracuse needs to be senior guard J.J. Starling.

Against Tennessee, just when it looked like Syracuse was going to throw away a nine-point lead and suffer another defeat, it was Starling who delivered. He came off a screen, pulled up, and drained a three to give the Orange a 58-56 lead. Less than a minute later, he knocked down a mid-range jumper to extend the lead to 60-56, showing that he's Syracuse's best option when they need a basket late in games.

Starling's inauspicious start

For the second straight season, Starling had a rather unusual start to the season. A year ago, he led the way early in the season for the Orange, only to miss all of December with an injury. A similar fate struck Starling this season when he got hurt just three minutes into Syracuse's season opener. He barely returned in time for the Orange's ill-fated trip to Las Vegas, in which they lost to Houston, Kansas, and Iowa State on consecutive days.

Coming off the injury and with an entirely new supporting cast around him, not to mention Freeman's absence, Starling struggled throughout the three games in Vegas. He shot just 40% from the field, made a modest four of his 12 three-point attempts, and was a pitiful 3 for 9 from the free-throw line. Even his 12 points against Tennessee were a season-high for him, showing that he's still not up to speed after his early-season injury setback.

Time to be the guy

Fortunately, the two shots Starling hit late in the Tennessee game were signs that Starling is close to getting back to being the player we've seen the last two seasons. The second shot, in particular, was vintage Starling. While he's a career 29.8% three-point shooter, making just 26.8% of his perimeter shots last season, Starling has a brilliant mid-range game. When he can get to his spot for a pull-up jumper inside the arc, it almost feels automatic.

In a big spot, setting up Starling to pull up for a mid-range jumper is likely to be Syracuse's best chance to get a bucket. Teams still have to respect his speed to the basket, and perhaps his improved perimeter shooting early this season as well. That should allow Starling to get a good look from the mid-range when he needs one. It's a shot that Autry and the Orange should feel confident will go down.

Moreover, Starling is a senior and the longest-tenured member of the team. He's the one who needs to take ownership in big spots and wants to take the big shot the way he did against Tennessee. After all, the team was rebuilt this past summer around the return of Starling and Freeman. After being last season's leading scorer, Starling should still be the top option and needs to keep establishing himself as the go-to guy in big spots.

Why not Nate?

In fairness, Syracuse has several other options when it needs to get a bucket. With any luck, Freeman will return from injury soon and pick up where he left off, averaging 17.8 points per game over the first four games of the season. In time, freshman Kiyan Anthony could also be an option in big spots, given the bag of tricks he's shown as a scorer and the way he stepped up when Starling was out.

Of course, both Naithan George and Nate Kingz are options as the starting guards alongside Starling. But George has been up and down against the elite competition Syracuse has faced over the last four games. He also doesn't have the prowess as a scorer or the same ability to create his own shot as Starling. The same is true for Kingz, who can shoot from the perimeter and drive to the basket when opponents overplay him as a pure shooter. But he's not quite proven that he can initiate the offense or chase his own shot.

Starling is the one

That leaves Starling as the clear choice to take the big shots late in close games. The two shots he made late in the Tennessee game are evidence that he's ready, willing, and able to take on that role. If he hadn't missed time early in the season, perhaps one or two of the losses in Las Vegas would have gone differently. In any event, moving forward, Starling should be the undisputed go-to guy for Syracuse, answering at least one of the questions facing Autry and the Orange.