Syracuse Men’s Basketball Defeats Daemen 81-68 in Energetic Exhibition Opener

If there’s one word to describe this Syracuse men’s basketball team after their first game, it’s energy. From the fans in the stands to the players on the court, that’s exactly what was brought tonight, as the Orange won their exhibition opener against Daemen 81-68. There were plenty of positives to take from this opener, but specifically, the energy that Syracuse players, both starters and bench players, brought forward.

For me, it was kind of nerve-wracking, and then Coach Red was like ‘Just go out there and play,” you know?” center Naheem McLeod said. “That’s what his message was to us before the game, just go out there, have fun, and play. If you have a turnover or make a bad play, just keep your head up. So you know, hearing the coach tell you to just keep that same mentality, it’s kind of relaxing for us to just go out there and be the best we can be.

“Just overall offensively, today we didn’t need to run as much,” said head coach Adrian Autry. “We kinda just played out, spaced it out, and tried to use our dribble drive a little bit more, which you know, that’s what we have. We have a team that can space out and multiple guys that can drive the ball, so we’re just getting better on both ends of the floor, but defensively, rebounding better and keeping people in front of us.

SU has one more tune-up game before the regular season starts. That’s Wednesday night at 7 against the College of St. Rose. After that game, hopefully, we’ll be feeling another “e” word: excitement.