Syracuse basketball got into the win column in Gerry McNamara's first official game as his alma mater's head coach on Monday evening at the JMA Wireless Dome. Guard Kiyan Anthony was a big reason why.
The 6-foot-5, 198-pound Anthony, who hails from Brooklyn, N.Y., is hoping to take a sophomore leap, much like the other key returnee from last season, forward Sadiq White Jr. from Charlotte, N.C. Anthony had an up-and-down freshman campaign.
He also struggled in the Orange's exhibitions. But to be fair, he was dealing with some knee tendinitis, and those were just exhibitions. On Monday night, the 'Cuse defeated NEC school New Haven by a final score of 74-58.
"The least we could do is go out there and play hard for him."@kiyananthony after scoring 17 in GMac's first game as head coach pic.twitter.com/HfCiy40rCZ
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) November 3, 2026
Syracuse basketball, though, raced out to an 18-0 lead in the first half. The Orange led by 22 points at the break, but the Chargers outscored SU by six points in the second half for the ultimate 16-point advantage. McNamara was not happy with his team's performance. Not at all.
Still, Anthony, undeniably, was a bright spot. Granted, it was one game, against a mid-major foe (no disrespect to New Haven). Yet if Anthony plays as he did in the 2026-27 season opener throughout the current campaign, that will be a huge boost to the Orange's prospects for possibly making a bid to hear its name called on Selection Sunday for the 2027 NCAA Tournament.
Kiyan Anthony's performance in the Syracuse basketball season opener was encouraging.
Monday's non-conference affair had an announced crowd of 23,283, the largest for a home opener at SU since the 2016-17 campaign. Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim was in the house. So, too, was another Hall of Famer and Kiyan's dad, Carmelo Anthony, and Kiyan's mom, actress La La Anthony.
Kiyan Anthony played 25 minutes. He scored a team-high 17 points and added three rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers. Anthony went 5-of-12 from the field, 2-of-8 from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Those numbers from the charity stripe are key, as he struggled from the line last season.
McNamara, after the game, said regarding Anthony, it "was just kind of a matter of time. He just had to find a rhythm. And he had some knee tendonitis in the middle there of the exhibitions. And I didn’t want to waste that. Why am I gonna burn a guy in the first three exhibitions after he played 31 minutes against UConn? So I kind of wanted to ease him back in. We had a long talk this week about the best part of the exhibitions and how he played is they don’t matter come Monday night because there’s a new season starting and he came out and played well today."
On Monday, the 'Cuse and New Haven played for the first time ever. Syracuse basketball clearly has a lot of work to do, but Anthony's output was great. I've talked about this SU roster's depth and positional versatility, although with junior guard Aiden Tobiason out, the backcourt's depth is being tested a little bit.
Anthony doing what he did in the season opener, assuming he can play that way consistently, will provide some relief for the Orange, especially until Tobiason returns.
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