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WASHINGTON — J.J. Starling says you’d think he’s a maniac if you saw his day-to-day schedule. Shots up at 7. Class at 8. Back to the gym for treatment and more shots. Then practice. More shots after practice. Lift. And fittingly, there’s a late-night shooting session with a manager to wrap up the day.

He estimates he spends over seven hours a day in the gym, trying to find that rhythm and confidence that made him a 5-star recruit and major addition to Syracuse’s backcourt. Trying to find the spark SU needs as it inches closer to conference play.

Entering Saturday, Starling was shooting 12.5% from 3-point range this season. Admittedly, he was in his own head a little bit. He’d made only three 3s through nine games. How do you fix that? How many shots do you have to put up a day to find a rhythm?

“I’m not sure. I’m just shooting until it feels good,” he said, beginning to laugh. “And it felt good today.”

Starling was all smiles after Saturday’s 80-68 win over Georgetown, and who could blame him? He scored a season-high 21 points, going 8-for-14 from the field, and, perhaps most impressively considering his start to the season, went a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. It was the help Judah Mintz — who notched 25 points, but sat on the bench for stretches of the second half in foul trouble — needed, and energized SU to a second-half run that put a back-and-forth game out of reach.

“He was big. Especially when Judah went out, he made some big shots,” head coach Adrian Autry said postgame of Starling. “He stepped up big for us, he controlled the game. He had a moment where he took over the game. And that’s what you envision when you got two high-level guards. And today, they played that way.”

Starling said he knew his hard work this week would pay off. And once he saw his first 3-point attempt go down five minutes into the game, he knew he was in for a big game. That mentality didn’t change when Mintz left the game at the 13:39 mark of the second half after picking up his third foul, the point when Starling took the reins of SU’s offense.

First he hit a pull-up jumper from the right wing. Then a step-in 3 from the other wing. Finally, with Georgetown within five at the eight-minute mark and head coach Ed Cooley standing at midcourt, imploring for more defense and crowd energy, Starling stepped back for a contested jumper. He knew it was good as soon as he released it.

“At that moment, the crowd was into it, the coach was into it. They were kind of still in the game,” he said. “But once I hit that shot, I was like, ‘oh, yeah, it’s gonna get going. We’re gonna just pull away with this.’”

The Hoyas never got closer than 10 after that shot. Autry said Syracuse recorded its best defensive performance of the season in the final 10 minutes. Georgetown finished just 19.2% from beyond the arc, and turned it over 14 times. After Mintz returned he quickly notched a steal and breakaway dunk.

The point guard who grew up less than 20 miles from Capital One Arena showed out in front of the roughly 30 friends and family. He had 11 points by the 10-minute mark of the first half, and finished with 25 in 32 minutes. He drew fouls on jumpers and drives, hit 86.7% of his free throws and repeatedly finished on tough looks inside.

After getting stuck in the paint on a possession early in the second half, the point guard dished to Starling in the corner, who buried the 3-pointer. The connection — and combination — Syracuse needs.

“Judah’s been playing great this season,” Starling said. “And I feel like he was just waiting for me to step up. I finally found that spark, that confidence.”

Quadir Copeland provided an additional boost with a career-high 14 points off the bench, something Syracuse needed.

A scoring drought of nearly four minutes in the first half had helped Georgetown take a lead with 2:50 left in the first half after Ismael Massoud curled around a screen and buried a 3-pointer.

The first half ended with three buckets in the last minute and both head coaches yelling at the officials. The unexpected component of that flurry: third-string center Mounir Hima, who made a quick impact off the bench in his second appearance of the season. He tapped an offensive rebound back to Starling for a layup, and followed a Justin Taylor miss with a two-hand finish.

Starting center Naheem McLeod was limited to just four minutes — Autry said he dealt with some foot irritation — but the plan heading in was for Hima to get minutes regardless. Supreme Cook provided a physical inside presence, and Autry said Hima, who’s been banged up early this season, responded.

“Coach’s message was always the same: when you get in, do something. Impact the game, know what we’re doing. Stay ready,” Hima said. “And today when they called my name, I just stepped up and impacted the game.”

Starling certainly did, too. He shot 4-for-12 against Cornell on Tuesday, and 0-for-3 from 3-point range. Not on Saturday.

Even when he did miss, Syracuse had a response. With 2:30 left and the Orange up 72-60, Starling missed a floater. But there was Copeland, racing down the lane. And in one motion, he secured the ball in his right hand, cocked it back and slammed it on Massoud’s head.

Starling immediately put his hands on his head — the surrender cobra reaction of did that just happen? Syracuse’s bench tapped their heads. Autry pumped his right fist. Game over.

“That was the craziest dunk I’ve seen in a while. It was a hard putback,” Starling said. “And at that moment I was like, ‘it’s time to go home now.’”

Published on December 9, 2023 at 1:55 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_