After ten days of peace and quiet, Syracuse reached back into the transfer portal to bring in a fifth new face into the program. This time, it was Bryce Zephir, who has spent time at a couple different junior colleges, as well as two seasons (one redshirt) at North Texas and last season at Montana State.

Where will the well-traveled Zephir, who is entering his sixth season of collegiate competition, fit into the Orange’s overhauled roster?

To be fairly blunt about it, the fringe of the roster. As the 11th player on the roster, that also is the general area where Zephir will fit into the playing rotation.

A 6’4” combo guard, Zephir worked his way into the starting lineup for the Bobcats last season, starting their last 15 contests. In those games, he averaged 5.6 points, 2.3 assists, and 2.2 rebounds in 22.6 minutes per game. Zephir is not a strong shooter, having finished last season at 29.7 percent from 3-point range and 61.5 percent at the foul line overall.

The advanced stats from last season are less kind to him, as he logged a poor offensive rating, only showing a noticeably above average mark on the positive side in his assist rate. Unfortunately, Zephir’s turnover rate was very poor to go with his middling shooting marks.

In addition, Zephir comes to SU with some kudos for his defensive toughness, but the advanced stats create a question that this reputation translates to the floor. Of the nine Montana State players who averaged at least 15 minutes per game last season, Zephir was eighth in both defensive rating and defensive box plus-minus.

Also, his foul rate was marked by a sharp increase when facing better competition. T-Rank lists that Zephir was called for 5.3 fouls per 40 minutes against teams ranked in the top 100 and 5.8 fouls against teams in the top 50.

While those numbers came in a small sample of games, it is a minor red flag in the event he is looked at as primarily a defensive contributor while making the jump up to the ACC.

To be clear, Zephir is being looked at as a complimentary player who will likely be asked to defend and keep the ball moving on the offensive end. He will need to be able to do those things without helping send opponents to the foul line, even via the bonus, to keep any playing time he earns.

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