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.J. Starling’s mother, Satonya, loves to give analogies when describing her son’s ability to take over games. She likens it to watching a movie’s climax.
It’s never a singular play that alerts her. Starling may hit a series of tough floaters or contested 3-pointers, but what remains the same is the unmistakable look in Starling’s eyes.
Starling’s father, Patrick, is the next to catch on. They turn to each other and smile, before watching Starling dominate down the stretch.
“It’s like when Superman goes into that telephone booth and changes,” Satonya said. “You see a totally different player.”
Starling, now in his second year with the program, often wears the superhero’s cape for Syracuse. After Judah Mintz’s departure in the offseason, the Orange needed Starling to step up and be the guy. A former McDonald’s All-American, Starling is accustomed to being a No. 1 option. This season, that’s been amplified, as he’s scoring a career-high 18.6 points per game — third among guards in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
With Mintz now in the NBA G League and SU’s next healthy leading scorer Eddie Lampkin Jr. averaging 10.0 points, Starling is taking four more shots than he did last season. But the Orange are two games under .500 and sit 14th in the ACC. It’s hard to blame Starling, though.
When he missed a seven-game stretch due to a broken wrist, Syracuse won just two games.
Since Starling’s return on Jan. 4, SU’s been inconsistent, going 5-6. What is consistent is the Orange’s reliance on Starling.
SU’s lack of perimeter creators puts pressure on Starling to play well. When he does, good things happen for Syracuse. It’s 5-3 in games where Starling scores at least 20 points. That includes SU’s recent triple overtime win over Boston College. He’s shown he can single-handedly lead the Orange to victory. This was seen best earlier in the season against BC, Notre Dame and Youngstown State.
“Just be aggressive and make plays at the end of the day,” Starling said of his mindset. “My coaches and my teammates trust me to do that. They put me in situations to go out and do that. So I’m just looking forward to closing out the game.”
On Nov. 16 against Youngstown State, Starling scored 21 of his career-high 38 points in the game’s second half. In his third game back from injury on Jan. 11, he accumulated 20 of his 26 after the break. Starling also poured in 16 second-half points against Notre Dame on Jan. 18, as Syracuse overcame a 17-point deficit.
“When he’s locked in scoring, his focus is different,” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said. “His energy changes a little bit and there’s not a lot of hesitation. He’s way more decisive once he gets locked in.”
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Despite sitting at the top of opposing teams’ scouting reports, Starling has remained undeterred. Syracuse needs the point guard to be superhuman at times to win. That comes with pressure. Some might fold under it. Starling relishes it.
“There’s no pressure because at the end of the day, I don’t look at it like a job,” Starling said.
Last season, Starling’s role was different. After transferring from Notre Dame, he took a backseat to Mintz — then SU’s leading scorer — and played hesitantly. In five straight games from late December to early January, Starling was held to single digits and didn’t take more than nine shots.
Mintz took issue with Starling’s lack of aggression, knowing he could reach another level. The two had played against each other since middle school, when Starling’s Albany City Rocks squad faced Mintz’s Team Takeover.
Mintz implored Starling to take more shots, and he listened. Across Syracuse’s final 15 regular-season games last season, Starling averaged 16 points, compared to 11 in the first 16.
“He’s too good to not be aggressive,” Mintz said.
It’s something Starling’s grappled with his entire career, dating back to his time playing varsity as an eighth grader for Baldwinsville’s Baker High School, just 20 minutes from SU. With his prowess as a three-level scorer, Starling immediately became Baker’s best player. Mike Lewis, Baldwinsville Baker’s head coach, said Starling saw things on the court kids his age usually don’t, but was never rattled under pressure.
Despite Starling’s advanced knowledge and skill levels, he didn’t always leverage them into an attacking mindset.
“He was always willing to make the players around him better, instead of being the best player on the floor every single night trying to get every shot,” Lewis said.
Sometimes it came down to how he was guarded. Starling often drew double teams whenever he touched the ball, and as soon as he gave it up, he was face-guarded to prevent him from getting it back, Lewis said.
Content with letting his teammates benefit from his gravity, Starling played selflessly. When it was time to push the right buttons and be in control, he was. Starling’s lightning-quick drives and pull-up jumpers became routine, which are still his go-tos with Syracuse.
He was an All-State performer as a freshman and sophomore in high school, helping Baker to a sectional final in 2020. Starling’s marquee performance that season came in a nonconference game against Green Tech from Albany.
Jim Hart, the director of Albany-based City Rocks, attended the contest. Before the game, Hart told his friends it could be tough for Starling, who was 15, against Green Tech, a program with multiple state championships.
Hart was wrong. By halftime, Starling had 25 points and made seven 3s. He finished with 35 points and 10 triples in a win. After the game, Hart sent the film to Duke’s then-assistant John Scheyer, and the Blue Devils started recruiting Starling.
“It was just crazy, he was just stepping into shots and hitting things that were next level,” Hart said.
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Eventually, Starling left central New York to attend La Lumiere, a preparatory school in Indiana where he played under Patrick Holmes. The competition was stiffer, but Starling was still the go-to guy alongside Division I prospects like Michigan State point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., Alabama guard Aden Holloway and Notre Dame forward Kebba Njie.
“He was a guy that, in crunch time, the ball was in his hands to make the right play,” Holmes said.
Starling became a consensus five-star recruit. He stayed in the Midwest playing for Notre Dame, where he became the lone non-senior in its starting lineup. He was a double-digit scorer with 11.2 points per game, but the ball wasn’t in his hands as much. Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey left that offseason, and so did Starling.
He came home to Syracuse. After waiting in the wings behind Mintz last year, Starling, a self-described “quiet guy,” has been pushed out of his comfort zone in a leadership position this season.
“I’m forcing myself, along with my coaches and my teammates, having that standard, to really stay with that and just push ourselves,” Starling said.
Things haven’t been perfect. Syracuse may finish under .500 for just the second time in the past 50 years. But Starling doesn’t — nor should he — get much of the blame for its shortcomings.
He was on the sidelines for a month due to injury. During that time, Starling grew impatient. Patrick said Starling felt he was letting the team down due to him not being out there.
“He was very antsy to get back on the court,” Patrick said. “That’s his attitude …when he’s focused, it is almost like nobody can stop him from making his mind up.”
To pass the time, he watched hours of film each day; not just on himself, but on other elite college guards. Starling pointed to Alabama’s Mark Sears and North Carolina’s RJ Davis specifically. He took note of both because of their elite ability to navigate pick-and-rolls to get downhill and score.
Both Sears and Davis have led their respective programs to Final Fours. Starling is far from that. Yet, when healthy, he’s one of the top guards in the ACC.
Basketball can be a simple game. Sometimes all that’s needed is to put the ball in your best player’s hands. For Syracuse, that means giving the ball to Starling. Opposing teams know that. There isn’t always much they can do to stop him.
“He’s everything for this team. He’s our leader and the team knows it,” Autry said.
Photograph by Leonardo Eriman | Asst. Video Editor
Published on February 13, 2025 at 12:07 am
Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22
