The Syracuse University men's basketball team earned its 11th win of the season on Saturday afternoon by beating Pitt 83-72 in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Orange are now 2-1 inside league play and have won consecutive games within the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Panthers are 0-3.

Let's take a look at some of the big takeaways.

The transfer from UCLA continues to provide valuable minutes for Adrian Autry's team. Though he isn't scoring as much since the return of Donnie Freeman, Kyle did have 11 points in just 19 minutes on Saturday. He also pulled down four rebounds and swiped four steals.

And oh yeah, he had the No. 1 play on Sportscenter's Top 10 Plays with this incredible put back dunk. He's one of the more athletic big men in the country.

Remember earlier in the season, when Syracuse was at the bottom of the nation in free-throw shooting percentage and Autry told everyone not to worry? Well, he's been proven right - for now. The Orange went 15-of-18 at the line in the win, marking another solid game of improvement. Though the 62.9 percentage as a team is nothing to write home about, they are no longer last. They check in at 358th out of 365 teams.

It's still improvement.

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The leading scorer on this team a year ago at 17.8 ppg, Starling has been inconsistent in 2025-26. He checked in with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, pairing with Freeman to make a dynamic 1-2 punch. The Orange need that, and they can't get by with him with scoring the eight and four points he had in the two prior ACC contests.

He's averaging 11.1 ppg for the season, which is the lowest output of his career.

Tyler Betsey hit three three-pointers in the first half, yet only played 14 minutes for the game. Kiyan Anthony played just 10, despite calls for him to play more.

Meanwhile, Nate Kingz played 25 minutes and had just seven points. Naithan George played 38 minutes and had just five.

Do with that what you wish.

This is two games in a row that the Orange had a big lead in the second half only to see it get close late. They squandered a big lead against Georgia Tech before it got to five with just minutes to play, and we saw this game get close late before the Orange ultimately pulled away again.

Once they get the lead, they have to be better about executing down the stretch.

The Orange are the midst of an extremely winnable slate of games, and they need to take advantage of them. They'll play Florida State on Tuesday night (Jan. 13) at home, and the Seminoles are 0-3 inside league play already. After that, they'll see an also-winless Boston College (0-3) group. Then, it's a Virginia Tech team that is just 2-2.

Syracuse hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2020-21 and if they are to break that drought, they'll have to have an excellent conference season. This early stretch is a way for them to set the tone early on.

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