Kiyan Anthony has already been at Syracuse University longer than his father, Carmelo, was.
‘Melo was one-and-done before going to the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks for the majority of his legendary NBA career.
Kiyan, though, isn’t quite the player his pops once was. He had a bumpy freshman season and is back this winter for year two with the Orange.
Syracuse’s season began Monday night, and that meant Kiyan would get his first chance at showing that he’s taken a step forward in his game.
There was legitimate reason for concern — Kiyan had been awful in SU’s three exhibition games.
But in the 74-58 season-opening win over New Haven, Kiyan looked like he belonged on the JMA Wireless Dome court in that Syracuse ‘Anthony’ No. 7 jersey.
Kiyan Anthony Stats
Kiyan came off the bench, but then he got more minutes as a reserve than any other Syracuse player.
He ended up leading SU in scoring with 17 points in 25 minutes.
Kiyan shot just 5-for-12 from the floor, including 2-for-8 from 3-point range. He was 5-for-6 at the foul line, better than he shot as a freshman.
He added three rebounds and three assists, and he didn’t turn the ball over.
Kiyan airballed a 3-pointer multiple feet short soon after checking into the game for the first time, and that seemed like a bad sign.
But soon enough he found his footing and found ways to put the ball in the basket. If he’s going to come off the bench this season, Syracuse is going to need Kiyan to be a sparkplug scorer. And once he saw the ball go through on Monday night, Kiyan found his way into some consistent scoring.
A Key Caveat
Of course, don’t get overly excited quite yet.
Syracuse wasn’t playing an ACC foe. They were playing New Haven out of the NEC. The Chargers are a Division I program, but they’re generally going after a whole different level of player than Syracuse.
It would’ve been disappointing in a major way to see Kiyan struggle against such a foe, so a solid performance is worth noting, but it’s not a big boost to his stock. It just ensures that he isn’t written off quite yet.
Syracuse doesn’t play too many imposing foes in the non-conference slate, but Kiyan is going to have to grow as the season goes along if he wants to make an impact once conference play arrives.
It’s not a given that Kiyan will get heavy rotation minutes in the ACC. But if he can translate scoring against New Haven into scoring against better teams, he can make the case to stay on the floor.
Carmelo Anthony’s Son Kiyan Surprises in Syracuse Season Debut