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J.J. Starling slowly walked across the Syracuse locker room. Following the initial media scrum during the open locker room session, Starling was nowhere to be found. Eventually, he came out of hiding and meandered his way to an open seat before slouching down. Starling donned a black winter coat. The hood pulled well over his head and covered his eyes. It was a defeated look. One from a player who just played his worst game of the season three days after having his best.

Starling scored a season-low four points. He finished just 1-for-7 from the field. It was the lowest amount of shots he’d taken all season. On top of that, he coughed the ball up a season-high six times. He was a shell of the player who willed Syracuse to a road win over Boston College on Saturday with 26 points.

The despondent Starling didn’t pick his head up until being asked a question. Even then, his monotone responses were a representation of not only his performance Tuesday, but Syracuse’s.

“If J.J. scores four points, we’re gonna have a tough time to win,” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said postgame.

Starling never got going Tuesday and neither did any of his backcourt mates. Starling, Kyle Cuffe Jr., Elijah Moore and Jaquan Carlos combined to score 16 points on 25% shooting in Syracuse’s (8-9, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) 85-61 defeat to Louisville (13-5, 6-1 Atlantic Coast). SU’s guards were outclassed, plain and simple.

Their performances paled in comparison to Louisville’s backcourt, highlighted by a 24-point, seven-assist performance from Chucky Hepburn. The Wisconsin transfer made it look easy, finishing 8-of-13 from the field while drilling six 3s. The Cardinals’ other three starting guards each finished in double figures, meaning the quartet totaled 63 points.

There were contributions from everywhere, but Hepburn was the driving force behind it all. Through the first 13 minutes, Hepburn’s scoring impact was minimal, though his presence was felt. He scored or assisted on nine of Louisville’s first 13 points as it built a nine-point lead.

It wasn’t until after Reyne Smith completed a four-point play with 7:59 left in the first half that Hepburn completely took over. Smith put Louisville up eight. For the rest of the half, it was the Hepburn show.

Pull-up 3 in transition? No problem. Catch and shoot from the wing? Easy money. Hepburn simply couldn’t miss. He hit four 3-pointers and personally outscored Syracuse 12-10 over the final eight minutes of the half while the Cardinals led 43-27 at the break.

“(Hepburn’s) a guy that controls everything that they do so he’s a really good player. He gave us a lot of problems,” Autry said.

“He hit almost every shot that he took … (When) you’re hot like that, it’s hard to stop anybody like that,” Cuffe added.

During Hepburn’s outburst, he was simultaneously helping shut down Starling. Hepburn — who leads the ACC in steals per game — along with J’Vonne Hadley and Terrence Edwards Jr. locked Starling and threw away the key in the first half. Hepburn’s speed allowed him to keep up with Starling, while Hadley’s length made it tough for him to get his shot off.

Starling was held scoreless in the first half. It was the first time he’d been shut out across a 20-minute span all season. Starling didn’t get on the board until he converted a baseline floater 45 seconds into the second half. That would be his last made shot of the night.

“They were just really aggressive, not even just on me, it was just hard getting to the sets that we wanted to run,” Starling said.

Without Starling on his game, the question beckons: who can Syracuse rely on — especially in the backcourt?

Right now, there’s no clear answer. Moore hasn’t scored a point in nearly a month and has seen his minutes diminish with every game. Cuffe gives you a lift in certain spots but finished 2-for-7 on Tuesday. Carlos was relegated to the bench for the past three games after starting the first 14. The truth is, Autry doesn’t have a plethora of guards to choose from.

Coming out of halftime, he decided to bench Moore in favor of Carlos. The Hofstra transfer totaled 19 minutes, more than he had in the past two games combined. Carlos scored five points in 35 seconds, bringing Syracuse’s deficit down to 48-34 with 18 minutes left. That would be the closest Syracuse would get for the rest of the game. Syracuse was simply outclassed.

When asked about what his “Plan B” was when Starling wasn’t his normal polished self, Autry said they tried to attack inside more to Eddie Lampkin Jr. and Jyáre Davis. The duo combined for 21 points, not nearly enough considering the lack of production from the guards.

On the flip side, Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey has four guys he can trust. Hepburn is the head of the snake, but Hadley, Edwards and Smith are no slouches with each leaving an imprint on the game. Hadley finished with a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds), Edwards had 16 points, while Smith knocked down three 3-pointers.

All four of Louisville’s leading scorers were attained by Kelsey through the transfer portal. He’s helped turn around a team that won 12 games in the past two seasons to the second-best record in the ACC so far this year.

Meanwhile, Syracuse is a team that has more questions than answers. Starling has been positive since coming back from injury. He scored 13 points in the second half against Georgia Tech in a win and 20 after the break against BC. Yet Tuesday night against an elite ACC team, when Starling was held quiet, Syracuse couldn’t come up with a useful backup plan.

“I’m not the whole team,” Starling said. “I still rely on my guys to make plays and they’re able to do that. So if a team wants to shut me out, cool, then you still have four other guys on the court.”

Published on January 15, 2025 at 12:42 am

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