The real thing is here for Syracuse.
After an offseason of roster building, a March introduction for Gerry McNamara and three exhibitions to get a feel for his new team, the Orange finally open the 2026-27 season Monday against New Haven. It’s the first game that counts - for the record, the metrics and the NCAA Tournament resume Syracuse hasn’t built since 2021.
New Haven is the first official test for McNamara and the Orange, and it comes with the kind of numbers that usually point to a comfortable night. KenPom gives Syracuse a 98% chance to win and projects an 81-57 final.
This will be the first meeting between the programs.
New Haven enters its second season as a Division I team after a rough transition year. The Chargers finished fifth in the 10-team Northeast Conference, but the bigger hit came after the season, when they lost their top three scorers to the transfer portal.
Jabri Fitzpatrick, who led the team with 15.0 points per game, is now at Eastern Michigan. Najimi George, who averaged 11.2 points, transferred to Samford.
Andre Pasha, the team’s leading rebounder and blocker at 10.7 points per game, is at Bryant.
Even with all that turnover, Ted Hotaling remains the steady hand. He has coached New Haven since 2010 and led the program to five Division II NCAA Tournaments, including an Elite Eight run in 2023. The Chargers still can’t reach March Madness until the 2028-29 season because of the reclassification.
The numbers paint a tough picture for New Haven before tipoff. KenPom has the Chargers 356th out of 365 Division I teams and last in their conference. That’s a step down from where they finished last season, when they ended up 328th.
For Syracuse, the path to a clean opener is pretty straightforward. The Orange don’t need anything fancy - just a normal performance against a clearly overmatched opponent. They didn’t blow out Siena or Niagara in their final exhibitions, but both of those teams are still ranked at least 43 spots higher than New Haven by KenPom.
One obvious area to watch is Syracuse’s shot-making from deep. McNamara’s teams are built around the 3-point line, but the Orange were ice-cold in the exhibitions, going 21-for-79 from beyond the arc, which works out to 26.6%. If that number climbs, Syracuse can separate quickly.
The size edge should also be hard to miss. New Haven’s tallest player is 6-foot-9, giving Syracuse a chance to lean on its new group of centers: Appalachian State transfer Luke Wilson, Siena transfer Tasman Goodrick and freshmen Abdramane Siby and Iker Martinez. Monday could be an early chance for that frontcourt group to show what it can do around the rim.
Defensively, Syracuse should have a chance to make life miserable for a New Haven offense that was the 15th-worst in Division I last season. Garwey Dual and Amarri Monroe could help clamp down and set the tone for the Orange.
One number Syracuse will want to clean up right away: 14.3. That was the average number of turnovers per game in the three exhibitions, and those giveaways led to 15.3 points per game for the opposition. It’s an issue the Orange can’t afford to carry for long, especially with the schedule tightening soon.
The first two games are manageable - New Haven and Central Connecticut State - but the test level rises fast after that with Indiana and St. John’s, both of whom bring top-50 defenses according to KenPom.
One New Haven player worth keeping an eye on is guard Kheni Briggs, No. 3. He’s the oldest and most productive returning scorer for the Chargers after averaging 6.9 points, 1.2 assists, 1.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game last season.
Briggs has taken a winding road to get here. He began at Charleston Southern, where he appeared in one game, then moved on to JUCO Indian Hills Community College.
After that came UAlbany in 2024-25, where he averaged 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, before landing at New Haven last season. Now a graduate student, he’s back for another stop in a career that has already covered plenty of ground.
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Donohues path makes the commitment feel especially meaningful, too. He is recovering from open-heart surgery, and the expectation is that hell have a strong senior season once hes back in full rhythm. Syracuse has already secured his pledge, but visits like this help reinforce the relationship and give both sides a clearer picture of what the next chapter could look like once his high school season gets underway. [Read more 🡒]