Kiyan Anthony didn’t need a long speech to say goodbye to Adrian Autry.
When Syracuse’s season came apart late and the losses piled up, the mood around the program shifted with it. The Orange dropped six straight and eight of 10 to finish 15-17, and the questions about Autry’s future were never far away. Anthony said that uncertainty seeped into the locker room.
“It was always the question, you know, in and out of the locker room,” Kiyan Anthony said in a recent interview with Syracuse.com. “The energy kind of died down towards the end of the season.”
The end came in Charlotte on March 10, when Syracuse fell 86-69 to SMU in the ACC tournament. The university announced Autry’s firing the next morning, but inside the program, the writing was already on the wall. Players left the locker room in silence, and some were crying.
Anthony said his final interaction with Autry happened after that loss, in a small office just off the main locker room at the Spectrum Center.
“The last time I seen Red was the (when) we lost in the ACC tournament,” Anthony said.
He described walking in, giving Autry a dap and saying, “Thank you.”
“And then, you know, that was it,” Anthony said. “That was the last time I spoke to him.”
Anthony’s first season at Syracuse was a stop-and-start one. The 6-foot-5 guard began the year in a reserve role, started two games early when JJ Starling was injured, and played in all but three games overall. He missed the final two because of knee issues, and one of the most talked-about moments of the season came on Feb. 7, when he stayed on the bench for all of a 72-59 loss at Virginia.
Autry’s choice not to play him drew a loud reaction, especially online. Autry said it was not punishment, just a basketball decision aimed at winning the game.
Anthony, though, said he never had a bad relationship with his former coach.
“I wouldn’t sit here and say he’s a terrible coach,” Anthony said. “It wasn’t the right situation for him last year.
“I have no bad words for Red,” he added. “I’ll see him right now, we’ll laugh and joke, but it just didn’t work out last year, that’s all.”
He also said that if Syracuse had hired someone other than Gerry McNamara, he would have transferred. But when asked whether he would have stayed if Autry had remained, Anthony wouldn’t go that far.
“I can’t answer that,” he said. “I don’t know.
I mean, it would have been a lot of talks and meetings. Like we did with this one (referring to meetings with McNamara).
“I would have had to have a real one-on-one conversation with him.”
Anthony’s father, Carmelo Anthony, was a visible presence around the team last season, sitting courtside at the dome and at select road games. He stayed mostly quiet while Syracuse struggled, though he did post SMFH, or shaking my head, after an 87-77 loss at North Carolina in which the Orange trailed by as many as 32.
Kiyan Anthony said his father has to handle things differently than most parents because of who he is.
“I think it’s kind of hard for my dad,” Anthony said. “He’s trying to play the middleman.
Like, he doesn’t want to overstep his play, and he can do that. He can come and practice and take over the practice, but he doesn’t want to do that.
“He kind of just wants to be a father and see me grow and see me mature.”
Carmelo Anthony, who averaged 22.2 points and led Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA title as a freshman, understands that his son’s path won’t mirror his own.
“He knows this is a process,” Anthony said. “He knows that everybody’s journey is different, and that’s what he always tells me.
And I know I’m going to get to where I want to go. It’s just a matter of when and how.
And he just tells me, just play. Play my role.
“Last year, it was unfortunate, but it just is what it is,” Anthony continued. “And now we don’t look back on that.
We just continue to look forward. And that’s why I work so hard the way I did this offseason.
And I feel like it’s going to be a great year for us.”
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