What Freeman, Kyle and Autry said after Syracuse's 83-72 win over Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — Syracuse won its second straight ACC game with an 83-72 win over Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon.

The Orange shot 45.5 percent from 3-point range, with Donnie Freeman, JJ Starling and Tyler Betsey making three shots each. William Kyle III finished with a team-high four steals and two highlight reel dunks.

Additionally, the Orange shot 15 of 18 (83.3 percent) at the free throw line, and 29 of 52 (55.8 percent) from the field in one of their best offensive performances of the season.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

Donnie Freeman stars

After missing over a month of action, Donnie Freeman has shown why he is such a valuable part of the Orange since returning to the lineup on Dec. 31 against Clemson.

Freeman is healthy, and one game after a career-high in points in SU's last game against Georgia Tech (27), he followed up with another stellar performance against Pitt.

Freeman scored 22 points, including three triples, and finished the game at a +17 to go with five rebounds.

With six minutes to go, Pitt seemed to be catching momentum coming off a 3-pointer from Beebah Cummings which cut the SU lead—once at 18—down to 72-66.

But then Freeman responded immediately, finding some room off to the right baseline and knocked down a 27-foot triple. With that shot, Syracuse retook a nine-point lead and stalled Pitt’s comeback bid

“I’ve been working on it,” Freeman said of his outside shooting. “The types of threes I shot, I want to make sure my feet are set, elbows tucked.”

Freeman has the confidence from the coaching staff to let loose from anywhere on the floor.

“He’s a guy who can stretch the floor,” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said. “He's capable of making three to five 3s a game."

Syracuse’s defense was resilient

The Orange only had one block against Pittsburgh on Saturday, but SU made up for it by keeping Pitt players in front of them, controlling the tempo on the defensive side and generating seven steals.

Autry noted that the offense became “stagnant” late and felt his players started lacking in their defensive effort. Autry emphasized during these “dips” that the team must focus more on defense than offense.

Syracuse flipped between zone and man throughout the game, which appeared to throw Pitt out of rhythm at times.

Autry noted he thought the Orange’s “zone was really good,” though he also commented the team had to work on rebounding when playing zone defense, as Pitt had 14 offensive rebounds.

Then again, Syracuse’s defense improved down the stretch, holding Pitt to four points following a timeout from Pitt at the 5:41 mark of the second half.

“I just blacked out. It took me a minute to recognize it.” William Kyle III (@WilliamKyleIII) on his highlight reel dunk in #Syracuse’s 83-72 win over Pitt. pic.twitter.com/JxEI4fyUji
— Syracuse On SI | The Juice Online (@TheJuiceOnline) January 10, 2026

Kyle has a highlight reel dunk

How often do referees come up to players and tell them their last play was nasty?

It likely doesn’t happen often, but that was the case after Willam Kyle’s putback dunk with 19:07 left in the second half.

After Nate Kingz missed a 3-pointer, Pitt failed to big SU’s big man out, and Kyle came rushing in, collecting the rebound with one arm pulled back, and he completed a circus windmill dunk to put the Orange up 50-37.

It drew a massive reaction from the crowd and also from the Syracuse bench.

When asked if any of the Panther players made any comments him, Kyle said he didn’t recall.

"I don’t think so,” Kyle said. “I know one of the refs said something to me. He just told me 'that was nasty.’”

After taking a brief pause, Kyle admitted he was “still thinking about.”

Likely, many Syracuse basketball fans are, too.

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