Philadelphia - First men’s basketball road game of 2025-26.
Syracuse played Drexel in the second game of something called the Autumn Invitational. The first game? Penn State vs. LaSalle.
The most interesting thing about the first game was that V.J. Edgecombe, the Philadelphia 76ers rookie phenom, sat a seat down from Carmelo Anthony in the front row of the XFiniti Mobile Arena. The crowd wasn’t all that big, but there was a lot of orange and a lot of pregame talk about Melo and V.J.
Kiyan Anthony and Edgecombe were teammates at Long Island Lutheran. They had a quick moment when SU came out on the court for pregame warmups.
First half: Syracuse 37, Drexel 32. Final score: Syracuse 80, Drexel 50.
Syracuse turned on its defensive pressure and dismissed Drexel in the second half. How about 43-18 domination?
Here’s what happened:
Syracuse struggled with two fundamental things in the first half: The Orange could not rebound. And they could not stop the Dragons.
Drexel outrebounded Syracuse 19-9 in the first half. Notable in that stat is that Donnie Freeman, arguably SU’s best defensive rebounder, did not record a single board in that half. Part of that was because he was guarding a guy, Villiam Garcia Adsten, who is 6-foot-8 but plays a lot on the perimeter.
The Orange as a whole just did not get after it on the glass. Seemed like certain switches left smaller SU players on the interior trying to rebound over bigger guys whose job it is to rebound.
Those rebounding numbers were huge for Drexel. The Dragons only outscored SU 5-3 in that half in second-chance points, but those boards gave them additional possessions, which they needed after their turnover issues (more on that below)
And when they had the ball, they mostly scored.
Drexel shot 52.2% overall and 40% from the 3-point line.
Kiyan Anthony started for the second straight game because of JJ Starling’s injury.
Anthony led SU with 12 points at the break. He and Freeman played the most minutes (18) of any other Orange player in the first half.
Syracuse shot 50% in the first half, partly because Drexel turned it over 10 times and SU capitalized 10-2 in the points off turnovers category.
The Orange committed just two first-half turnovers.
But there were times in that first half when SU was stagnant on the offensive end. Syracuse, too, attempted just four first-half free throws. The Orange settled for jumpers for parts of that half. There were moments when Naithan George got penetration and dished to a teammate, even a nice side PnR with Freeman that resulted in a 3.
The offense, by and large, was not the issue.
Anthony continues to put up big points numbers.
He scored 18 Saturday on 7-of-12 shooting. Loved the late-game drive where he took a 6-8 Drexel big to the rim and used his body to create separation. He’s pretty strong and can absorb contact and still score, which is generally hard for college freshmen.
The Orange buckled down defensively to start the second half.
Drexel started that half 1-for-7 from the field.
There was a moment 15 minutes, 40 seconds left in the half when SU pressed full court and Drexel promptly turned it over. Akir Souare then blocked Shane Blakeney’s attempt at the rim. (Souare is a good, active defender.)
The Orange men have had Sadiq White and Souare on the floor when they press. Those are two guys who really get after it on the defensive end.
The press changed the entire complexion of the game and allowed SU to get separation.
The Dragons started the second half 2-of-16 overall and 1-of-7 from 3. That was the beginning of the end for Drexel, which managed just 18 second-half points.
The Orange outscored the Dragons 43-18 in the second half.
Bryce Zephir entered the game Saturday before Luke Fennell. Not sure there’s anything all that important about that, but it’s interesting.
Seems like SU coaches like Zephir’s defense and toughness. He plays hard.
I am consistently interested in SU’s substitution rotations. With 11:58 left in the game and SU leading by 13, here’s who was on the floor for SU: Kingz, White, Fennell, Kyle, Zephir. That lineup led to an open 3 and make by Fennell.
We can mention Kingz’ slow start from the 3-point line this season, but he guards people and on Saturday, he rebounded (nine) on an afternoon when SU really needed it.
With 6:18 left in the game, Drexel had managed a total of eight second half points. All that harassing defense was just too much for the Dragons.
NOTES: Tyler Betsey went down with 9:21 left in the first half, hobbled into the locker room with SU athletic trainer Mike Mangano. He did not return in the first half. To that point in the game he’d scored five points in six minutes. He did not return to the game. ... Naithan George played well in this game. Finished with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting. He also had eight assists. ... SU narrowed the rebounding gap in the end. Final number: Drexel 39, SU 36. ... JJ Starling missed his second (but really his third) straight game on Saturday with what we all believe to be a hamstring issue. SU coach Adrian Autry said during his Thursday radio show that the Orange staff sees no reason to rush him along if he’s not 100%.