The Syracuse Orange basketball team snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Southern Methodist on Saturday as Nate Kingz converted a game-winning layup with just two seconds left. The Orange led for a total of one minute and 33 seconds on Saturday, but that’s all it needed to steal a win at home.
In the closing seconds, Adrian Autry drew up a play for Kingz to drive left on his dominant hand.
“I went with Nate Kingz. He’s really playing well at a high level right now,” Autry said of the last
offensive play. “I was very confident that we would get a shot off if we could get him the ball getting downhill. I knew we would get a shot off and particularly he would get to the paint. And he delivered. Executed the play just the way we drew it up.”
Kingz was called upon in the game’s closing moments as he got the switch drove on SMU’s Boopie Miller. He took contact, spun, gathered himself to go up off of two feet and finished strong with his left hand over the top of Miller. He converted the bucket. Checkmate.
“Man, coach called it up in the timeout. It’s the same play that we always run — it’s probably 80% success rate,” Kingz said. “Just get downhill, get to my left hand. Big Will [Kyle] did the job sealing his man and left me a wide open layup.”
Mustang’s guard Jaron Pierre Jr. had one last look at a desperation heave that nearly went, but hit the backboard and clanked off the rim. The miss preserved Kingz’ game-winning bucket and marked a highlight on the Syracuse season. The senior guard finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds on the day.
Kingz’ bucket came just minutes after he missed a crucial front-end of a one-and-one with 2:58 remaining. A pair of free throws would have extended the Syracuse lead to three, but instead SMU took the lead on the next play. Kingz also missed a layup with 2:27 remaining for a chance to put Syracuse back in front. He didn’t swell on those misses, however, and adopted the next play mentality.
“The one thing I’ll give myself credit for,” Kingz said, “I didn’t get down on myself. I stayed to it.”
“He’s not about the talk,” Autry said. “He’s not about famous quotes or any of this stuff. He rolls his sleeves up every day and go to work. And when things don’t go his way or our way, he keeps working. Right? That’s what I respect (about him).”
On a day where Kingz will get the glory, he wanted to take some of the spotlight and shine it on the play of freshman Kiyan Anthony. Many guys made contributions on Saturday, including Tyler Betsey off the bench and Donnie Freeman and Nait George led the team in scoring. But Anthony finished with 13 points on the day and played in crunch time down the stretch given the flow and rhythm he had in the game.
Anthony’s scoring kept Syracuse in it and gave the team a chance to come back at the end. That play came just one week after he received his first DNP (did not play) of the season at Virginia. Kingz made sure to highlight the growth of Anthony amidst the praise that would be heaped on the game-winning shot.
“Kiyan balled out today,” Kingz said. “I’m proud of him. He really came into his own today I’m proud of him for that.”
As for Kingz, he’s been playing really good basketball for over a month — something that would usually be given more credit had Syracuse been winning games. Over the last nine games, Kingz is averaging 16.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game with shooting splits of 53.8/45.5/65.6. That’s not to mention his strong perimeter defense.
Throughout the lows of the season where the Orange dropped six of seven games and jettisoned its at-large NCAA Tournament hopes, Kingz had been steady. Against SMU he got his moment in the sun.
“Nate Kingz in particular never gets too high or too low,” Autry said. “He keeps battling.”
