Syracuse Basketball: J.J. Starling, lately, has been on fire, which is huge for ‘Cuse

Syracuse basketball sophomore guard J.J. Starling, the Central New York native who transferred from Notre Dame this off-season to the Orange, is on a roll these days.

The 6-foot-4, 206-pound Starling has proven excellent in three of the team’s past four games, as the ‘Cuse went 3-1 overall. The one outlier was in a home setback to Florida State, when sophomore point guard Judah Mintz had 28 points, but virtually the rest of the Orange roster struggled to shoot the ball.

Starling, as a collegiate newbie a season ago, did make the Atlantic Coast Conference’s All-Freshman team, along with Mintz. Yet Starling struggled with his shot, particularly from long range, while also dealing with some injuries.

Early on in the 2023-24 season, Starling continued his sub-par shooting from beyond the arc, but he’s fabulously reversed course in recent ACC affairs.

If the ‘Cuse is going to make a run at a possible invite to this spring’s NCAA Tournament, the squad will need this kind of recent production from Starling, and others, to take some of the scoring load off of Mintz, who at present is No. 3 in the league in points per game.

J.J. Starling has been tremendous in recent games for Syracuse basketball.

Over the Orange’s last four encounters, Starling has played at least 35 minutes in every meeting, including 40 minutes this past Saturday night as the ‘Cuse notched a 12-point triumph on the Hill versus N.C. State. In that win, Starling tallied a career-high 26 points.

Following a three-game home stand, in which it went 2-1, Syracuse basketball (14-6, 5-4 in the ACC) will now hit the road for two straight contests, at Boston College on Tuesday night and then at Wake Forest on Saturday evening.

Per ESPN data, here’s what Starling has done over the last quartet of games:
•Home win over N.C. State: 9-of-17 from the field, 4-of-9 from deep, 4-of-5 from the line, 26 points
•Home loss to Florida State: 4-of-14 from the field, 0-of-5 from deep, 2-of-4 from the line, 10 points
•Home win over Miami: 8-of-13 from the field, 6-of-10 from deep, 0-of-0 from the line, 22 points
•Road win over Pittsburgh: 7-of-11 from the field, 2-of-5 from deep, 1-of-2 from the line, 17 points

If my math is correct, and that’s never a given, these are Starling’s cumulative statistics in these past four games:
Averaging 18.8 points per game
28-of-55 from the field, or 51 percent
12-of-29 from deep, or 41 percent
7-of-11 from the line, or 64 percent

For the 2023-24 stanza as a whole to date, Starling is up to 12.4 points per affair, which is second on the team, behind Mintz. Starling is also averaging 34.0 minutes, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per contest.

Additionally, he’s hitting on 44.8 percent from the field, 31.1 percent from 3-point land and 67.6 percent from the charity stripe.

Ideally, Starling will continue to improve his shooting percentages from both long range and the free-throw line. However, his 3-point shooting percentage is way up from earlier in the 2023-24 term.

Starling, a former five-star, top-25 national prospect and a McDonald’s All-American in the 2022 cycle, is ultra-athletic. Similar to Mintz, he thrives out in transition and in getting into the lane, although Mintz gets to the free-throw line way more than Starling, and pretty much anyone else in college basketball.

But if Starling can continue to show that he’s a reliable threat from beyond the arc, that will force defenders to play up on him more from the perimeter, and that can open up driving lanes for him to get into the paint, score around the rim, and facilitate for others.

This recent stretch for Starling is highly encouraging. He’s playing at an elite level, and naturally, Syracuse basketball fans hope that Starling can keep up this current trend.