SYRACUSE, NY – The Syracuse basketball season kicked off at home against New Hampshire for the first game of the Adrian Autry era. Led by Judah Mintz posting 20 points. The Orange survived and beat the Wildcats 83-72.
Syracuse started the game on a 6-0 run with layups from Naheem McLeod and Chris Bell with a pair of free throws in the middle from JJ Starling. While New Hampshire fought to keep the game within reach, the talent from the Orange youth was too much to handle as the hosts led by as many as 22, halfway through the first half.
“People forget how young our team is,” said head coach Adrian Autry. “We got a bunch of sophomores, and I thought they battled [tonight].”
Point for point was traded to start the second half as Mintz, Starling and Justin Taylor continued to stay hot. New Hampshire found some life just before the first media timeout and carried into the middle stages of the half through an 8-2 run to bring the deficit to just six. A three pointer from Kyle Cuffe Jr allowed Syracuse to reestablish momentum.
The Wildcats didn’t go quietly as they brought it within seven, halfway through the second half. As Syracuse started to experience some foul trouble with it’s star players, Coach Autry went back to the bread and butter of Orange basketball.
“Thank God for the 2-3 zone,” said Autry. “We knew that we would need it, and we were fortunate that we had six or seven guys that know that zone, that played it last year, so that helped us out a lot. JJ and Kyle, those guys were familiar with it, and I thought they picked it up really quick.”
Syracuse knew the zone would stump New Hampshire, and it certainly slowed down the Wildcats just enough to allow the Orange to keep a comfortable lead heading down the stretch. Quadir Copeland finished the game off with a layup with 47 seconds left to secure his first career double-double, and Syracuse held on for the 11-point win.
“It feels good,” said Copeland after the game. “I just can’t wait to call my dad and my mom after this just because I already know they’re going to be excited especially since this was my first game actually being able to showcase what I can do.”
This game was also a homecoming for guard JJ Starling. The Notre Dame transfer, a native of Baldwinsville, knows all about Syracuse and what it means to play in the Dome. With the fans on his side, the game tonight was much different.
“It was exciting, you know, I didn’t expect the atmosphere to be that crazy on our first game,” said Starling. It was great to be out there, and we fed off of that energy. It was exciting, and I’m looking forward to getting back to it on Wednesday.”
As Starling said, Syracuse is back in action Wednesday night at the JMA Wireless Dome when it hosts Canisius. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.