Syracuse basketball great Lawrence Moten dies at age 53

Lawrence Moten, a basketball star at Syracuse in the early 1990s who still holds the program scoring record, has died. He was 53.

An athletic department spokesperson said Tuesday that multiple staff members learned of Moten’s death from various contacts and that Moten was at home in Washington, D.C., when he died. A cause of death was not immediately clear.

A 6-foot-5 guard known as “Poetry in Moten,” he scored 2,334 points over four seasons with the Orange, from 1991 to 1995. His 1,405 points in Big East play was a conference record that stood until 2020.

Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim, who recruited and coached Moten, called it a tragic day for the Syracuse basketball family.

“Lawrence’s passing is such a sudden thing; it’s very hard to take,” Boeheim said. “He was one of the most underrated college basketball players of all time. I believe some people took his ability for granted because he made it look so easy. Lawrence was one of our greatest players and one of the best in the history of the Big East Conference.”

Syracuse qualified for the NCAA tournament three times with Moten, who had his No. 21 jersey retired in a pregame ceremony March 3, 2018, at the Carrier Dome.

“I can’t think of anybody that was more positive or who loved Syracuse more than he did,” said Adrian Autry, who was a teammate with Moten for three seasons at Syracuse and succeeded Boeheim as coach in 2023. “He was one of the greatest to put on the uniform. It’s a big loss. I was able to play alongside him for three years and watch him do some amazing things. I was fortunate to spend time with him on and off the court.”

Orange athletic director John Wildhack called Moten a Syracuse icon.

“His accolades as Syracuse’s all-time leading scorer and holding the Big East scoring record for 25 years speak for themselves, but his style of play is what energized the Dome,” Wildhack said. “He was a fixture around the program long after his playing career, always with a smile on his face.”

Moten was a second-round pick of the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1995 NBA draft. He played two seasons with them and an additional eight games with the Washington Wizards in 1998.