UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Syracuse men’s basketball lost its exhibition opener to the archrival UConn Huskies 72-52 on Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Orange tied the game at 26 in the final minutes of the first half, then allowed the final five points of the opening frame, and UConn pulled away, leading most of the second half by double digits.
Sadiq White’s 17 points led the Orange. He was the only Syracuse player in double figures. Amarri Monroe had nine points. UConn was led by 17 points and eight rebounds from Seton Hall transfer Najai Hines. He and Duke transfer Nik Khamenia were the two best players on the floor for much of the game.
Here are a few takeaways for the Orange.
Aiden Tobiason’s injury
Less than two minutes into the game, Temple transfer Aiden Tobiason came up limping and grabbing his hamstring. The Orange offense didn’t look clean the rest of the game. Gerry McNamara didn’t have an update on Tobiason’s health postgame.
“He knows multiple positions for us,” McNamara said. “A constant threat. A guy to push the ball in the open court, a guy to knock down an open shot, a guy to isolate, a guy to use a pick-and-roll. He’s a pretty talented player.”
Syracuse needs Tobiason to be at full health. He is the highest upside player on the team, flashing NBA potential in G League Elite Camp last year. He combines a seven-foot wingspan with the ability to create his own shot off the dribble and hit threes. That’s something that SU can’t really live without because of how this roster was constructed. There’s not a ton of shot creation elsewhere.
Kiyan Anthony, who replaced Tobiason, struggled in his sophomore debut. With his father sitting courtside, Anthony flailed to a 2-for-11 performance with 6 points. His struggles from the foul line continued as well, going 2-for-5. If Tobiason is out long-term, Anthony will need to step up and play better than he did on Tuesday night.
Garwey Dual’s struggles, Ryan Moesch’s debut
Within the first five minutes of the game, Garwey Dual picked up his second foul. He reached in on Silas Demary Jr. after giving the ball away, and got whistled for it. He sat the rest of the first half, as McNamara generally doesn’t like to play players with two fouls if he has the choice.
He gave the opportunity to freshman PG Ryan Moesch, who played 30 minutes of eventful basketball. He certainly wasn’t playing scared, trying to find every which way to attack and getting up to his full head of steam pushing in transition. Moesch went 1-for-10 from the field, trying to feel out the game and understand where he can and can’t get his shots. He also picked up seven rebounds from being in the right spots for long boards, and dished out five assists in 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, Dual stayed on the bench for all but 10 minutes on Tuesday. If Tobiason is most important to Syracuse’s ceiling, Dual is most important for SU’s floor. While this was just an exhibition and the stakes are low, Syracuse probably won’t win a ton of games if he only plays ten minutes.
“I’m very demanding of my point guards,” McNamara said. “One of the non-negotiables is we gotta know everything from every possession. What every person is supposed to be doing. So there apparently was a miscommunication in terms of which action that was needed to run, and then the one that was run was run the wrong way, so I was very upset with that. And then it was riding out the feel of the game.”
“I thought (Ryan) changed the game for us offensively,” McNamara said. “So I went with him.”
The big man rotation
Many Syracuse fans were surprised to see Siena transfer Tasman Goodrick get the start at center for the Orange. He played just 11 minutes, didn’t score, and grabbed two rebounds. Even though Luke Wilson was the third big into the game for SU, he was by far the best.
Wilson was the only big for Syracuse that provided any sort of post scoring threat against Najai Hines and Oskar Giltay. He scored with a nice spin move on Hines in the first half, and finished with 8 points and 9 rebounds on the night.
“I just tried to rebound, block shots, be a real presence in the paint,” Wilson said. “I know I didn’t start the game off, but to me, that don’t really matter. Why don’t you come in and make an impact, that’s what really matters.”
“I thought Luke was terrific,” McNamara said. “I thought Like impacted the game, to be quite honest, the most, with how he rebounded. He altered a few shots, I thought he played a really good game.”
However, he still clearly lost the battle to UConn’s bigs, who dominated the glass all night.
Meanwhile, 7-footer Abdramane Siby looked extremely raw. He played seven minutes and didn’t really look at the rim. It’s only one game, but he may have a longer way to go than previously imagined.
“Siby has a really high upside,” McNamara said. “I think it’s gonna take him a minute to figure out the speed, especially the physicality in a game like this. I feel like when he picks it up, he’s gonna be a big time shot blocker.”
Gavin Doty: “I’m pretty pissed”
It was not Gavin Doty’s best night. The Siena transfer had just 5 points on 2-for-7 from the field. He went to his go-to spin move a bunch, but didn’t generate quite as much separation as he’s used to. He opened the second half with one of his fallaway jumpers, but tried another a few possessions later and couldn’t get it to fall.
Postgame, Doty reflected on the game.
“I’m pretty pissed right now,” he said. “Obviously, we lost, and I didn’t do what I needed to do to help us win. So I’m a little frustrated, but I’ll turn it around, put my best efforts forward in the next game.”
“Probably one of the worst games I had in my college career,” Doty said. “But you know, move past it, goldfish memory.”
Sadiq’s improvement and what he deems ‘unacceptable’
Sadiq White led Syracuse with 17 points. He drained two threes late in the first half as the Orange clawed back to tie the game at 26. The outside shot doesn’t need to be excellent — and he had a really ugly looking one in the second half — but if he can make teams guard him, it should open up the offense tremendously.
He also got the chance to flash his athleticism. He scored SU’s first two points by drawing a foul and getting to the line, then made the team’s first field goal by running in transition. In the second half, he cut from the baseline to catch an alley-oop from Ryan Moesch. White was Syracuse’s most impressive player on Tuesday.
However, White focused on one thing that he didn’t do in his postgame presser.
“Ultimately,” White said. “I can’t go out there and have one rebound. That’s unacceptable on my behalf.”
Syracuse takes the floor on Sunday at MVP Arena in Albany against Siena. The Saints will raise their 2026 MAAC Champions banner.