Syracuse Basketball: Adrian Autry shook up his starting line-up, and it paid off

Last week, after the Orange got blown out at N.C. State, Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry said that everything was on the table for his struggling team.

He meant it.

The 'Cuse hosted Notre Dame on Saturday night at the JMA Wireless Dome. Autry inserted freshman Sadiq White Jr. into the starting line-up at power forward, with sophomore Donnie Freeman coming off the bench.

After the 'Cuse beat the Fighting Irish by 14 points to snap a four-game losing streak, Autry said it "was nothing but a strategic game plan," adding that he felt "the matchups were a little bit better" with White starting at the four.

Now, Freeman, the Orange's leading scorer during the 2025-26 season, still ended up playing three more minutes than White. Freeman finished with seven points and six boards. White had five points and six rebounds.

Syracuse basketball has two massive road games on the horizon.

It remains to be seen whether Freeman or White will start at power forward on Monday evening when Syracuse basketball plays at No. 16 North Carolina (and then at No. 17 Virginia on February 7). Against Notre Dame, though, Autry's shaking things up worked out nicely for the 'Cuse.

The Orange head coach also only played freshman shooting guard Kiyan Anthony nine minutes on Saturday, whereas he's averaging 19.5 minutes per game on the entire season. Without question, both Freeman and Anthony are talented offensive players.

That being said, and I mean no disrespect here, but the 'Cuse defense has been porous of late. Freeman and Anthony aren't necessarily known for their defense. They're also ball-dominant offensive players.

Another huge issue for Syracuse basketball, when it loses, is a lack of ball movement, player movement, flow and rhythm on offense. Yet against Notre Dame, the Orange had 21 assists on 32 made baskets.

Redshirt senior small forward Nate Kingz (28 points) and senior shooting guard J.J. Starling (21 points) were tremendous shooting the ball, while junior point guard Naithan George tallied 10 assists with no turnovers.

Earlier this season, when Freeman missed nine games due to a lower-body injury, White started at power forward. In those nine encounters, Syracuse basketball beat Tennessee and hung tough with Houston and Kansas in Las Vegas. The Orange also got crushed by Iowa State in Vegas and lost at home to Hofstra by one point with Freeman out.

My point here is that the 'Cuse has shown it can hang with high-quality foes, but also has poor outings, with Freeman in the line-up and with him out. White, a top-30 national prospect in the 2025 class from Charlotte, N.C., was one of the top defensive players in his cycle, but he has work to do on his offensive game.

Still, his high-energy level and maximum effort were noted by Autry following the debacle against the Wolfpack in Raleigh, N.C. Freeman said that, above all else, the Orange got a victory over the Fighting Irish, and that's what matters the most.

Indeed, Donnie. Indeed.