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Adrian Autry lived up to all the changes he had promised in the opening 10 minutes of his first regular season game as head coach.

The Orange executed a suffocating man-to-man. They got out in transition for wide-open dunks and jumpers. And less than four minutes into the contest, Autry introduced his bench — displaying a newfound trust in SU’s depth.

Yet, with eight minutes remaining in Monday’s game, Syracuse saw its once 23-point advantage over New Hampshire dwindle to nine.

In SU’s (1-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 83-72 win over New Hampshire (0-1, 0-0 America East), it showcased flashes of promise. Judah Mintz led five players in double-digit scoring with 20 and the Orange recorded 22 fast break points off of 13 steals. Though, in addition to the positives, early signs of an expected transition period revealed themselves in Game 1 of Autry’s tenure.

“We got to mature and that’s a challenge,” Autry said. “To mature and really hang our hat on defense.”

For the majority of Syracuse’s opening half, its defense looked near-perfect. Steady on-court communication led to seamless hedging off of ball screens and switches, if necessary. Mintz and J.J. Starling hounded New Hampshire’s guards on the perimeter, forcing ill-advised shots amid a waning shot clock. When forward Chris Bell was beaten on a middle drive from Ahmad Robinson, he recovered for a chase-down block.

“I thought the first 10 minutes of defense was phenomenal,” Autry said. “I thought we flew around, I thought we kept people in front of us, I thought we didn’t get ahead of the ball, we got deflections, we were active.”

Center Naheem McLeod kickstarted a fluid SU offense by making a turnaround hook on SU’s opening play. Bell hit a face-up triple from the right corner and Justin Taylor slashed through the lane to convert a heavily contested lefty lay-in. Then, Mintz jumped a passing lane and sped away for a two-handed jam in the open court.

“Tempo is huge for us,” Taylor said. “We’ve been trying to play fast. No matter what. Make or miss.”

In the early going, occasional careless close-outs and eager reach-ins didn’t raise any concern either. It seemed Syracuse had UNH right where it wanted yet forced the issue on defense to give the Orange fans a show.

With 14:04 to go in the first half, during one of many successful defensive stands, Quadir Copeland stole the ball and fed a streaking Mintz on the right sideline. Pushing upcourt, Mintz didn’t take long to return the ball to Copeland, hitting him in stride for a thunderous dunk and a 21-6 SU lead.

A few possessions later, Copeland corralled a defensive board and immediately filled the middle of the floor. As the Wildcats were slow to get back, Copeland found Kyle Cuffe Jr. for a routine pull-up on the left wing. Finishing with 10 points and 13 rebounds, Copeland secured his first career double-double.

By the 8:39 mark, Syracuse led 32-9, but four minutes later, New Hampshire embarked on a 13-4 run to draw within 14. It was hard to pinpoint exactly where the Orange switched off. Its offense fell cold. The defense morphed from skintight to lackadaisical. SU also started to struggle inside, unable to turn to its outside jumper after totaling a measly 11.1% from range in the opening half.

“I knew we couldn’t sustain it,” Autry said of SU’s man-to-man defense. “But that’s the next step, keeping people in front of us and making them take tough shots. It’s typical. When your offense struggles a little bit, your defense gives in a little bit as well.”

Then, on UNH’s final possession, forward Clarence Daniels scored on a drive down the left baseline to beat the buzzer for two of his game-high 21 points.

“Honestly, our intensity died down,” Starling said. “Our energy was amazing. We were clicking on both ends of the floor but we kind of just got away from that. They started hitting big shots and we got in a stretch where we weren’t scoring. We kind of let that affect our defense.”

Throughout the contest, Mintz struggled to find consistency with his shot, eventually finishing 5-for-15 from the field. To begin the second half, he strung together a few errant mid-range jumpers. Penetrating down the left-hand wing, Mintz eventually saw a 3-pointer fall through on a soft bounce off of the front rim.

But tracking back on defense, Mintz immediately picked up a costly fourth foul with 17:14 to play, causing Autry to hastily bring in Cuffe Jr. Mintz put two hands above his head as he walked back to Syracuse’s bench.

“I pretty much got everything I wanted,” Mintz said. “Not everything’s going to fall every time but I feel like it was a comfortable game for me. I don’t really think I struggled offensively. I think I just missed a couple shots.”

For the next 10 minutes, SU’s star guard did not return. Autry understandably didn’t want to risk losing his floor general. Led by Copeland’s aggressive drives inside and a seven-point burst from Taylor, which included a 4-point play from the top of the key, Syracuse managed to keep New Hampshire at bay.

“He just stayed with it,” Autry said of Taylor’s play. “He knocked down a couple of big shots for us but that’s what Justin does. He’s just a consistent player.”

And, when Mintz checked back in, Autry was quick to switch from man-to-man to a far less tenacious 2-3 zone. Autry said he made the switch because he wanted to get Mintz back in the game and disrupt UNH’s developing offensive flow.

“We actually started practicing zone sometime last week,” Autry said. “We knew that we would need it.”

Mintz’s reintroduction resulted in a few more trips to the charity stripe while Taylor, who finished with 14 points, and Brown, who finished with 10, added on by canning open shots and executing on breakaway dunks.

While it’s ironic to see Autry’s decision to fall back on a defensive scheme he had been so insistent on trending away from, the zone secured an SU victory. For the final seven minutes, sloppy passing and wasteful trips persisted at times, but Syracuse rebuilt its lead to double-digits and held on.

Whether SU can extend its hot start past the first half, or the opening 10 minutes, to convincingly defeat future opponents remains to be determined. But for now, Autry’s first win at the helm, and the ensuing water bottle shower that greeted him in the locker room, will be treasured and enjoyed.

“I’m just happy for him,” Mintz said.

Published on November 6, 2023 at 9:35 pm

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff