Kiyan Anthony deleted social media. He talked with his coach. He got over ‘the Virginia thing’

Syracuse, NY – He’s deleted Instagram and Twitter in the last few days.

Kiyan Anthony has 1.1 million Instagram followers and 21,000 Twitter followers. Despite her famous parents, her visibility on social media has made her an 18-year-old celebrity.

He appears in advertisements for national brands. Whenever Syracuse plays a traveling city, people want to know which of the Orange players is Carmelo’s kid.

But after his DNP in Virginia last week, Anthony’s in-box was flooded with messages. National media outlets reported his first absence from an SU game. Adrian Autry’s “coach’s decision” reverberated throughout the college basketball world.

Anthony was suddenly caught in a media whirlpool for all the wrong reasons.

“The Virginia situation,” as Anthony said, “made me very mature.”

“It came faster than I thought, but especially that situation made me stronger, more balanced and stronger-minded,” Anthony said in Syracuse’s post-game locker room on Saturday. “Being on a different landscape than high school, there’s a lot more media, a lot more narrative.

“Everyone wants to put in their cent or two. But you know, they’ll never know what it’s like to walk in my shoes a little bit. So just don’t get into it and just keep working.”

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Anthony was a key part in Syracuse’s thrilling 79–78 win over SMU on Valentine’s Day at the JMA Wireless Dome. He came off the bench to score 13 points in nearly 24 minutes. He played about 16 minutes in the crucial second half, when he scored all his points.

A 23% shooter from the 3-point line, he made 2-of-4 from that distance on Saturday, one of them a deep, lethal bomb, one of which missed on a desperation call at the shot clock buzzer. He drove the ball. He sank a step-back jumper in the lane.

He grabbed two rebounds. What he accomplished after boxing out 7-foot-2, 270-pound Samet Yigitoglu brought a smile to Anthony’s face after the game. (“He was a very tall big man they had.”)

“He made some big shots, made some big drives, finished some games,” Autry said. “And he played with the intensity you’re supposed to play with. So, I was happy for him.”

It’s only been a week since the drama in Charlottesville, it’s only been a week that Autry hasn’t played the son of a Syracuse legend.

Anthony said he visited Autry’s office “after the Virginia thing” and told him he didn’t care about the narrative dominating the benching, with conspiracy theorists perpetuating the notion that it was anything more than the coach’s decision to sit a freshman player who had struggled at guard and shooting.

Anthony said he wanted to reassure Autry that “I don’t care about any of this stuff.” He said whenever his name is called, he will be ready to play, no matter how much court time it takes.

Anthony said, in conversations with his coaches he talked about his youth, his inexperience, especially in relation to his more experienced teammates.

“It was a candid conversation. There was no back-and-forth or anything like that,” Anthony said. “I just told him where I stand. He told me where he stands. And now we see eye to eye.”

The main thing Anthony took from that conversation, he said, was that Autry had not lost confidence in him, that his coach believed he could contribute.

Anthony said, he has been staying in the gym for the last week. He would get up, head to the Mellow Center to lift weights. He will practice with his team. Then, later that night, he returned to the gym to shoot.

The basketball work and that conversation with Autry helped soothe the pain of the “Virginia thing.”

Anthony staying away from social media and focusing on his family and friends was the same.

“Everything is about opportunity. And when you get an opportunity, you’ve got to go out there and do everything you can to stay there,” Anthony said. “And I think I did a good job today and hopefully we can take a step in the right direction and move forward from this.”