Kiyan Anthony was always going to have his work cut out for him when he chose to attend Syracuse University.
It’s the school that his father, Carmelo, led to its only national championship before going on to be one of the NBA’s best scorers ever, primarily with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks.
Kiyan could’ve chosen a different program, one where his dad’s name wasn’t on the practice facility.
He chose the Orange, though, and is now heading toward his second season.
Kiyan’s freshman season had a few promising moments as a scorer, but he was often inefficient and mistake-prone. That’s not unexpected for a freshman, though, and the hope would be that Kiyan would take a leap as a sophomore.
The Orange have a new coach, too: Gerry McNamara, who was a freshman classmate on that national title team with ‘Melo and hit six 3-pointers in the first half of the championship game against Kansas.
McNamara returns from Siena to take over SU’s bench from Adrian Autry, who had taken the helm from Jim Boeheim.
On paper, this is as good a setup as Kiyan could have at Syracuse.
Except if we read into the exhibition games, it’s a very troubling time for Kiyan. It could be a long season ahead.
Kiyan Anthony Stats
Syracuse played three exhibition games, one with a clearly more difficult opponent than the other two, but a busy enough slate that Kiyan should’ve shown something positive.
He didn’t.
First up was UConn, and the Huskies handed Syracuse a 20-point loss. Kiyan played 30 minutes but was just 2-for-11 from the floor, including 0-for-5 from 3-point range, while making 2-of-5 free throws. He also grabbed four rebounds, had two assists and committed two turnovers.
Next was a five-point win for Syracuse over McNamara’s former Siena team. Kiyan got just eight minutes. He missed both his field goal attempts, including a 3, and grabbed one rebound.
SU closed out the exhibition slate in Buffalo against Niagara. Kiyan was again scoreless, this time in 13 minutes while missing all four of his shots, including two 3s. He blocked one shot but committed two turnovers.
So that’s 2-for-17, including 0-for-8 from 3, with two assists and four turnovers in 51 minutes.
Kiyan Anthony Outlook
When Syracuse is healthy this season, Kiyan is going to struggle to see the floor.
The Orange have brought in a lot of new faces to play for McNamara, and it was up to Kiyan to prove he belonged in the rotation, but he hasn’t shown that.
His limited minutes against the low-major schools in the latter two exhibition games show that even there, the SU staff didn’t really have a way to use Kiyan more, and he wasn’t giving them a reason to do so.
There was some curiosity over whether Kiyan would transfer after a bumpy first season in Central New York, but he stayed. It might be tough to stick around if the season ahead is as rocky as it’s already looking for ‘Melo’s son.
Carmelo Anthony’s Son Kiyan Gets Brutal Syracuse Reality Check