Syracuse men’s basketball: Orange to host Daemen University in exhibition opener

There’s been plenty of men’s basketball news on the recruiting front, but now we have the first firm schedule update for the upcoming season.

Adrian Autry will lead the Syracuse Orange for the first time on October 27, when they take the court against Division 2 Daemen University in the 2023-24 exhibition opener. Daemen, located in Amherst, competes in the East Coast Conference and has faced Syracuse once before: a 90-71 Orange win to start the 2019-20 season.

Autry, who replaced Jim Boeheim as the team’s head coach in March, will have his first opportunity to showcase a reconstructed roster and new playstyle. Jesse Edwards, Joe Girard, and Symir Torrence left the team, while J.J. Starling, Chance Westry, Naheed McLeod, and Kyle Cuffe transferred in. Despite heavy rumors of a full blowup, Red kept many of last year's players around, including Benny Williams, Chris Bell, Justin Taylor, and Quadir Copeland.

There’s also the possibility of Judah Mintz returning for a sophomore season - he’s currently projected as a 2nd round pick in the NBA Draft but has until the end of the month to opt out and return to college. Yesterday’s news about Cuffe committing seems to lead towards Mintz sticking to the Draft, but there is still an open scholarship if he chooses to return.