The Syracuse Orange Men's Basketball team experienced something tonight far different than the last almost four decades.
After 47 seasons with Jim Boeheim as their head coach, this 2023-24 campaign began with Orange alum Adrian "Red" Autry in the first seat on the Syracuse bench.
This moment, happening inside the Dome, ended in an Orange win for "Red" versus the visiting New Hampshire Wildcats.
The first basket of the Autry Era was scored by junior transfer center Naheem McLeod coming from a hook shot by the 7'4" big man that came exactly 10 seconds into the contest.
Syracuse scored 30 points just inside nine minutes remaining in the first half, with sophomore point guard Judah Mintz securing an old-fashioned three-point play on a jumper by the free-throw line and his following freebie that gave the Orange a 31-9 lead.
But despite being ahead by as many as 23 points (32-9 with 8:39 to go in the first half), Syracuse would see their lead fade to 11, 38-27, at the 3:09 mark of the opening half as a result of an 18-6 run by New Hampshire.
The Wildcats would claw their way to just a two-possession deficit, down 51-45, with 14:49 to play thanks to a 13-7 run to start the second half.
Syracuse would get some accidental help from New Hampshire when senior forward Clarence Daniels, who had as many points as his jersey number, 21, fouled out with 7:05 to play.
The Wildcats shrunk their deficit to single-digits 10 times in the second half.
However, the Orange had an answer every time, and sophomore guard Justin Taylor was the one to score to get the Orange back ahead by double-digits on five of those 10 occasions.
Ultimately, Syracuse would outlast New Hampshire, giving Autry an 83-72 in his head-coaching debut.
Junior forward Benny Williams was not activated, nor was he even in the building, for this match-up. Williams was suspended for a "violation of team rules" prior to this game.
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