Kyle Cuffe Jr. is part of a guard group with greater depth at Syracuse in 2024-25.
For Kyle Cuffe Jr., transferring to the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball program in 2023 meant a chance at a fresh start and to play basketball at a high level closer to home. A native of Harlem, N.Y., Cuffe returns for a second season at Syracuse which also represented an opportunity to reunite with an old teammate.
Cuffe played on the same AAU team with Hofstra transfer Jaquan Carlos. The two have known each other since middle school and often spent time in their rooms together on the circuit. Cuffe is now part of a roster at Syracuse that includes three New York City players. That means something to him.
“I grew up with Jaquan and I got to know Chop [Elijah Moore] a little bit the last two years. Just being able to know Jaquan personally from when we were eighth grade and then to know Elijah is important to me,” Cuffe shared.
The senior point guard Carlos is originally from Brooklyn while Moore, a freshman, is from the Bronx. Cuffe shares a hometown with his head coach Adrian Autry and Allen Griffin is from Brooklyn, too. All played guard for Syracuse.
This season Cuffe figures to round out a bench contingent at Syracuse under a second-year head coach who still intends to play with depth.
“This year we have 11, 12 guys as of right now who are healthy,” Autry said at media day. “For us to be successful we have to play more guys. This is a very balanced team, a very competitive team. The strength of this team will be in how many guys we can play.”
Last season, Cuffe came off the bench in his first year at Syracuse. Sharing the backcourt with ball-dominant guards who were talented offensively, Cuffe learned that his opportunity for playing time would be on the defensive end of the floor. He expects that role to continue for the season ahead.
“Defense is always the most important thing to me. That’s the way I’m going to get my minutes. I feel like offense is going to come but I really need to focus on the defensive side of things,” Cuffe said.
It is among the oldest of coaching cliches that get recycled time and again: the best ability is availability. That’s what Cuffe was last season for a Syracuse team short of scholarship players for a variety of reasons. The reliable Cuffe appeared in 29 of Syracuse’s 32 games last season, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opposing team’s best scorer.
“He’s a dog,” JJ Starling said of Cuffe. “A dog for sure. He makes winning plays. He doesn’t care if he’s scoring or not. He just wants to win.”
Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images
Cuffe, whose father played at St. John’s and competed against Syracuse, has relished the opportunity to play basketball closer to home. The Kansas transfer sat out his first season with the Jayhawks, only to tear his MCL and PCL the ensuing season as he watched the run to the 2022 National Championship from the sideline.
In the summer of his transfer to Syracuse Cuffe suffered a broken right hand. This past summer — with a clean bill of health and a full offseason to work — Cuffe focused on improving his shooting and ball-handling. He worked himself into better shape, he said, to be there for his team in crunch time and to handle the ball better under pressure.
Said Cuffe of his goal for this season, “Being able to just be in the game with my team in those tough times, in those critical moments and make a winning impact.”
Cuffe, a senior academically with three years of eligibility remaining, said the most important thing is to get Syracuse back to familiar post-season territory.
“For my team,” Cuffe said, “just being able to get to that [NCAA] Tournament. Being able to help them in any way I can whether that’s cheering them on or (competing) on the court.”