How are Syracuse basketball transfers doing in their new homes?

We’re now just over a third of the way through the college basketball season, and with conference play underway, it’s the perfect time to check in on five former Syracuse players who transferred after last season.

Maliq Brown decided to stay within the ACC after entering the transfer portal, joining Duke on April 20th. The forward made the leap from a mid-level ACC team to a top-tier, nationally ranked ACC program. This move raised plenty of questions about his role on a team like Duke, and much of the early outlook was somewhat negative. However, Maliq has done an impressive job adjusting to his new role. Brown transitioned from a consistent starter, logging 30 minutes per game at Syracuse, to playing 20 minutes per game as essentially Duke’s sixth man. This reduction in playing time has actually worked to his advantage, as Maliq doesn’t necessarily have the star power to sustain high-level play for extended periods. On the No. 4-ranked Duke team, he isn’t expected to contribute significantly on offense. His shot attempts per game have dropped from 5.1 last season to 1.9 this season. Instead, Duke is leaning into his defensive abilities, and Maliq is thriving in this capacity. His defensive box plus/minus (DBPM) has more than doubled to 8.7 (top-10 in ACC), and his steals per game have fallen just under 2 per game. Overall, Maliq is excelling as a support and role player, emerging as a dominant defender. The most striking evidence of his defensive impact is his improved defensive rating (DRTG), which has dropped from 100 last season to an impressive 82.5 this season which, like his DBPM, is top-10 in the ACC.

Taylor was one of first players to announce their departure last season, entering the portal on March 18th. Almost a month later he committed to JMU.

Taylor had a rather bumpy ending to his SU tenure, the most disappointing part of his play was his seeming inability to hit 3-pointers. In his final 14 games with Syracuse he went 2-15 from 3.

Since transferring to JMU, this issue has actually gotten worse.

In 14 games, Justin Taylor has yet to make a 3. Not only that, he is hardly taking 3s anymore, as he has attempted just 4 on the season so far.

Accounting for last season’s pace (88 3PA, 2.6 3PA/G), he should be at about 33 attempts by now. Across the board, all of his production stats are down. His Box Plus/Minus (BPM) is -7.0 (last season was -0.6), True Shooting is down to 40.5% (last season was 45.0%), and his Effective Field Goal Percentage (EFG%) is down 7.2 points to 35.7%.

It seems that the fit just might not be there. He is not seeing the floor as much as he was at SU, his minutes per game is down to 12.1, and devoid of a drastic mid-season change, Taylor may potentially re-enter the portal.

Copeland was one of, if not the biggest, fan favorites of last season, his biggest moment clearly being the buzzer beater 3 to defeat Miami.

However, all season there seemed to be tension between Adrian Autry and Copeland, and it seems things may have boiled over with the early dismissal of Benny Williams.

Copeland and Williams seemed to be pretty close, and from that point on it is likely there was no salvaging their relationship. Copeland transferred to McNeese in early May.

He has been playing relatively well in his new role at McNeese. His minutes per game is down from 22.4 to 18.6, but he is scoring at the same rate as he was last season, his per 40 minutes points per game is 17.5, 0.3 more than last season. His ORTG is up 3.2 points (109.5) and his DRTG is down 12.9 points (90), both positive swings.

It is possible that, like Taylor, Quadir may end up in the portal again but for a different reason. Copeland left SU because of personnel turmoil and McNeese could be a buffer stop as he matures and gets more experience because it is pretty evident that he can contribute to at the very least a low-level P4 team or an upper echelon mid-major.

Last season was a rough one for Benny Williams.

It started off with a suspension for violating team rules and ended with being dismissed with a quarter of the season left. It was clear he did not mesh with Autry.

Williams hit the portal on March 17 and joined UCF on April 14.

With this transfer, the senior forward went back home. The Branderton, Florida native has seemed to have found his fit back in central Florida.

Williams is averaging 5.9 points per game on 17.5 minutes per game. His field goal percentage has risen by 7% to 47% while his field goal attempts remain virtually unchanged.

Williams made a massive leap in terms of his offensive contribution, his ORTG has risen by 15.4 points to 106.5, and his True Shooting and EFG% have risen by about 11.5 points to 51.3% and 49.2% respectively. Benny Williams and UCF are certainly a team to watch as the season ramps up.

As of now, they sit at 5th in the Big 12 at 9-2 and are just about to open up conference play.

Carey followed former assistant coach and Syracuse legend, Gerry McNamara, to Siena.

Since his arrival to the MAAC team, Peter has seen an increased workload. Partially due to the McNamara connection, but mostly because MAAC play is probably more fitting for Carey’s level of play.

Carey lacks the skill level and a lot of the tools to be successful on a P4 team. He’s got the height but not the strength to be a successful center, and with his lack of shooting ability it is a recipe for disaster.

After rarely seeing the floor at SU, Carey is averaging 13.2 minutes per game and scoring just over 4 points per game. He is also shooting at a very effective clip, 58.8%, and his true shooting is at 61.5%.

Careys’ per 40 possessions and per 100 possessions stats actually look fairly good. His ORTG has jumped 29.4 points to 110.8 and his PER (Player Efficiency Rating) is sitting at 18.9, a steep ascent from his 3-flat PER last season.

Siena sits at 5-7 in McNamara’s debut season, and it will be interesting to see Carey get more run in a conference that suits his level of play better.

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