That’s 2 easy wins for Syracuse basketball. Delaware State was Saturday’s victim (Donna Ditota’s Quick Hits)

Syracuse, N.Y. - We knew from the opening tip Saturday that JJ Starling would not play against Delaware State.

So, one mystery solved.

SU’s senior guard was a lower body injury scratch. He was said to be “day-to-day” this week.

Anyway, let’s get to the game itself.

Halftime: Syracuse 40, Del State 17. Final: Syracuse 83, Del State 43.

SU has won two games by an average of 84-45.

1/26

Here’s what happened:

Kiyan Anthony started at shooting guard for Starling, which was really no surprise since he’s one of the first players off the bench and has shown the ability to score in the two exhibitions and the one real game.

Anthony was terrific in that first half. He scored 12 on 5-of-7 shooting and contributed three assists.

He got to the rim easily against the Hornets, who ranked 347th nationally in Kenpom on defense before this game began. His last bucket of the half came when he drove right, switched the ball to his left hand and secured a lefty finish on the left side.

Nice.

Final stats for Anthony: 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He was 2-of-4 from 3, had four assists, three rebounds and did not turn it over. (He was also 1-of-4 at the free throw line.)

Delaware State managed a total of 17 first half points.

The Hornets were 5-of-33 overall and 0-for-9 from the 3-point line. They moved the ball pretty well against SU and its switching man defense, but they just could not finish a play.

The Orange defense looks so much better than last year. I know, it’s Delaware State and Binghamton. But, still. William Kyle is hedging hard on ball screens, then quickly gets back to his man. SU did a nice job in that half of rotating to spots where teammates got beat.

The Orange got eight first-half steals (some of them just fortuitously landed right in the hands of SU players). SU outscored DSU 14-3 in points off turnovers.

We won’t get a true idea of how good this defense is until probably later this month in Las Vegas, where Houston awaits in game one of the Players Era Festival. At least for now, Syracuse is greatly improved in an area it needed to greatly improve.

SU outscored the Hornets 16-2 in fast break points and 14-3 in points off turnovers in the first half.

Needless to say, the game was over at the half.

Donnie Freeman scored 13 first-half points in 11 minutes.

These teams are no match for him. He’s too athletic, too tall and stronger than he was a season ago. He made 1-of-2 from the 3-point line in that half, too.

The Orange, appropriately, outscored the Hornets 22-6 in the paint.

Freeman finished with 20 points. He was 6-of-8 overall, 7-of-10 from the line, had five rebounds and four assists. All in 23 minutes.

SU outscored the Hornets 46-20 in the paint.

Areas of concern: Syracuse and DSU each grabbed 22 first-half rebounds. There was one sequence late in the first half where the Hornets got probably four looks at the bucket. They eventually scored. This was no fault of William Kyle, who had seven rebounds at the half. Nate Kingz had five. Final rebound numbers: SU 41, DSU 38. The Hornets outscored SU 13-11 in second-chanced points.

Also, what about SU’s free throw shooting? The Orange was 3-of-7 in the first half, which obviously has to get a lot better. SU was 11-of-21 overall from the line.

NOTES: Kyle had 13 rebounds and six blocks in this game. He also scored eight points. When he came out of the game with about four minutes left, the dome crowd gave him a nice ovation. ... Adrian Autry used 10 players with 12:51 left in the first half. The bench played a lot. ... Sadiq White left the game in the first half after what appeared to be an ankle issue. He hobbled off the court with the help of Kyle and SU athletic trainer Mike Mangano, but bounced back to the bench a few minutes later and soon thereafter entered the game. White had an ankle issue at IMG last year. ... Del State was 0-for-12 from the 3-point line until Ponce James finally made one in the second half. ... Tiefing Diawara checked into a game for Syracuse for the first time this season. The 7-foot freshman was waved in with 1:33 left.