Kiyan Anthony came to Syracuse last year carrying big expectations and even bigger confidence. Now, after a rocky freshman season and a reset under Gerry McNamara, the sophomore says he feels like himself again - and he expects to play like it.
“I feel like (my confidence) was taken from me last year,” Kiyan Anthony said. “For me to come back and for G-Mac to install that battery into my back, I feel like it’s go-time now.”
That outlook comes with a clear goal: a starting job. Anthony didn’t leave much room for doubt when asked if he expects to open games for the Orange.
“I don’t think it should be a question,” Anthony said last week. “I feel like I’m one of the leaders on the team. ...
“I’m leading the best I can in terms of showing them the ropes of the ACC and Syracuse basketball. And G-Mac is helping me become a better leader. Last year I didn’t have that role.”
Still, he made it plain that he’ll accept whatever role McNamara chooses.
“If I’m starting, I’m starting,” Anthony said. “If I’m coming off the bench, I’m coming off the bench. But the work is the work, what’s put out there is put out there and you believe what you believe.”
Tonight’s exhibition against UConn will offer the first look at how McNamara wants to build this year’s rotation. The coach said the preseason games are a chance to evaluate the roster and give every player a shot to show what they can do.
For Anthony, that evaluation comes with a different assignment. Syracuse should see a player who isn’t trying to force the action the way he often did a year ago.
Last season, Anthony frequently drifted into isolation and took tough shots. Former coach Adrian Autry repeatedly pointed to the team’s lack of passing, and Anthony was part of that problem. Anthony said the offense often left him with the ball and little else.
He said McNamara’s system should give him more chances to work off the ball and get help creating cleaner looks.
“We have a lot of actions where I don’t have the ball and screens are getting set for me off the ball,” Anthony said. “I didn’t have a lot of that last year. I was really just getting it and trying to go.”
McNamara has already talked with Anthony about where his game needs to grow. The coach said their offseason conversations centered on efficiency, specifically effective field-goal percentage and taking more 3s.
“Our conversation became about effective field-goal percentage and volume 3s, becoming a great shooter,” McNamara said. “You already do those others things well. How do we evolve your game?”
That focus makes sense given how last season unfolded. Anthony averaged 8 points per game, but he ranked 114th among 121 ACC regular rotation players in effective field-goal percentage. He shot 25.4 percent from 3, and Syracuse’s returning players from last year combined to hit just 31.2 percent from long range, second-worst in the ACC.
McNamara added Mark Morano as a shooter, but he also said much of the improvement has to come from the players already in place. Anthony was one of the first names he brought up as someone who could make a jump.
Anthony said the new approach means more catch-and-shoot chances, fewer dribbles, and more time spacing the floor.
“(McNamara) wants me to use less dribbles,” Anthony said. “He wants me to shoot more open 3s.
No coach has ever told me, ‘I want you to shoot more.’ For him to tell me that tells me he cares for me and trusts me with the ball.”
Anthony also said he has added 15 pounds of muscle this offseason. And with that came a renewed sense of belief in his own game.
His freshman year never fully matched the swagger he brought to campus, when he talked about getting Syracuse back to the NCAA Tournament and even suggested he could be NBA-bound after two seasons. The Orange finished below .500 for the second straight year, and Anthony’s role never fully clicked. He said the team’s struggles affected him, too.
“Last year, I wasn’t there all the way mentally,” Anthony said.
There were tough moments, including a benching for a game that drew more attention than it probably would have for most young players. Anthony said McNamara’s straight talk has stood out to him, because when the coach isn’t happy, he makes it known.
Now the message is different: do less, do it better, and let the game come to him.
Anthony said that belief from McNamara has helped restore the confidence that slipped away during a frustrating first season. And it’s put him back in familiar territory - talking like a player who expects to score a lot.
“I look at myself as one of the most prominent scorers in the country,” Anthony said. “I’m going to try to do whatever I can to try to put the ball in the hole.”
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