ALBANY, N.Y. - Syracuse’s second exhibition game comes with a built-in reunion Sunday afternoon at MVP Arena, where the Orange are set to face Siena at 2 p.m.
Gerry McNamara will go against his former school, and a few more familiar faces are in the mix too. Transfers Gavin Doty, Francis Folefac and Tasman Goodrick all have Siena ties, and McNamara brought over much of his coaching staff from there as well.
For Syracuse, the pregame lineup featured Garway Dual, Gavin Doty, Amarri Monroe, Sadiq White Jr. and Luke Wilson.
Siena’s starters were Trent Egbiremolen, Reid Ducharme, Tim Ibukunowala, Tan Yildizoglu and Chris Torres.
The biggest Syracuse note before tipoff: freshman Mark Morano is making his debut in an Orange uniform, while Aiden Tobiason is sidelined with an injury.
Siena also set the tone with a pregame celebration, unveiling its championship banner and handing out MAAC championship rings to last season’s team.
There was a little extra scene-setting, too, with McNamara greeting players in orange, green and normal clothes who are now done with their basketball careers.
Siena still has five players from McNamara’s time there who were part of last year’s MAAC tournament title team. That group includes Brendan Coyle, whom McNamara first inherited as a walk-on and who finished fifth on the Saints in scoring last season at 8.7 points per game. He is Siena’s top returning scorer.
Siena is being coached by Nevada Smith, who spent the previous six years on Shaka Smart’s staffs at Texas and Marquette.
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