Copyright syracuse.com
Syracuse, N.Y. – Before making his official college debut, Kiyan Anthony spent an hour talking to his dad on the phone. Carmelo Anthony would not be at the JMA Wireless Dome on Monday to watch his son in a Syracuse Orange uniform. The Syracuse legend had to perform his new duties as an analyst on NBC’s coverage of the NBA. “He definitely watched it,” Kiyan Anthony said after Syracuse’s 85-47 romp past Binghamton on Monday. “He was definitely watching through the screen.’’ What Carmelo saw was a lot more of his son than anyone expected going into Monday’s game. Kiyan Anthony was pressed into action early when Syracuse guard JJ Starling limped off the court less than three minutes into the game with an apparent hamstring injury. Starling would sit out the rest of the game, leaving the bulk of the time at shooting guard to the ballyhooed freshman with the famous last name. With his mother, La La watching from courtside, Anthony responded with 15 points on 6-for-10 field goal shooting. He also contributed three rebounds, three assists and no turnovers in 28 minutes of action. “I thought Kiyan played really extremely well,’’ Syracuse coach Adrian Autry said. “I thought especially on the defensive end, I thought he gave a lot of energy. I thought he moved. I thought he made the right rotations. So I was extremely proud of him tonight on that end.’’ Anthony is not the highest-ranked recruit to come to Syracuse ever; he’s not even the highest-ranked recruit in his own recruiting class. That honor would go to SU freshman Sadiq White. But Anthony is arguably the most famous recruit in school history, eclipsing the likes of New York City legend Pearl Washington and Sports Illustrated cover boy Billy Owens. Anthony has 1.1 million followers on Instagram. He has appeared alongside Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in an ad campaign with American Eagle. He has his own clothing line. He and his father were recently featured on the cover of SLAM magazine. The excitement over his Syracuse debut was so great that many in the crowd at the dome on Monday cheered when they saw him heading to the scorer’s table, not realizing that Starling had plopped down in front of the SU bench with his injury. Anthony realized right away what Starling’s injury meant. “I was like, damn man,” Anthony said. “Like, JJ, you know, this is his senior campaign. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t be out there, but, you know, the game has to go on and guys got to step up.” It took a while for Anthony to settle into the game’s flow on offense. “I started 0 and 2,” he said, “so I just tried to set the tone defensively to get my offense really going.” Anthony scored his first college point on a free throw to give Syracuse a 25-9 lead with 4:35 remaining in the half. Two minutes later, he made his first bucket in an Orange uniform, a little jumper in the lane. He added another shot in the paint just before the half ended. Coming for the start of the second half, Anthony took the court with Syracuse’s four other starters – Naithan George, Nate Kingz, Donnie Freeman and William Kyle. “Obviously, JJ was out, so I knew I was going to start the second half,” Anthony said. “So I just kept trying to apply the pressure and, you know, the buckets came.” They came on a drive to the basket that he converted with his left hand. And then came a step-back jumper on the baseline reminiscent of You Know Who. “It’s something I work on,” Anthony said of what is a deceivingly difficult shot. “Credit to my dad, of course. That was his shot. He passed it down to me. “We work on that almost every day in the gym,’’ he added. “I work on that in practice. So I felt confident it was going in.’’ It’s possible that Anthony could see a larger role for the near future. Autry did not have much information on Starling’s condition following the game other than to say he thought the senior guard “would be fine” and he took it as a positive sign that he returned to the team bench rather than stay in the locker room. Anthony will be called upon to fill in for Starling until his return. He detailed what Starling brings to the Orange. “JJ is the fastest player on the team,” Anthony said. “Every time he gets the ball, he’s downhill. I’m a different player than him, so I try to apply the pace differently.” How long Starling will be out is uncertain for now. Syracuse’s next game isn’t until Saturday when the Orange hosts Delaware State. Then there’s another week before Syracuse travels to play Drexel in Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 15. As for Carmelo Anthony, he won’t have to watch what could be Kiyan’s first college start through a television screen. “He’ll be here next game,” Kiyan said. “He’ll be here.”
