In an unexpected twist to the Central New York rivalry, Syracuse will try to halt a two-game losing streak to Colgate when the teams meet Tuesday on the Orange's home court.
Syracuse (2-0) had won 54 straight meetings with the Raiders prior to dropping a 100-85 decision in November 2021. Colgate then doubled down by defeating the Orange 80-68 last November, stopping Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim from earning his 1,000th career win in the process.
Boeheim retired last offseason following 47 seasons on the Orange sideline. His replacement, Adrian Autry, is off to a solid start with double-digit wins over New Hampshire and Canisius. Judah Mintz has averaged 23 points in the two victories, while J.J. Starling and Justin Taylor have contributed 13.5 points apiece.
Mintz scored 19 of his 26 points against Canisius in the second half to help Syracuse gain some separation from the pesky Golden Griffins.
"I do feel like I'm a second-half player and that it can take me a little bit to get settled in," Mintz said. "I'd much rather just come out from the opening tip and play like I did, but that just comes with time. I think tonight there were a lot of positives, and we showed the type of team that we can be when everything is clicking."
Colgate (1-0) squeaked past Brown 72-70 in its season opener.
Braeden Smith scored 17 points while adding five assists and three steals. He did commit six of the team's 14 turnovers but made up for the miscues by sinking the game-winning free throws with 1.7 seconds to play.
"I'm proud of our group," Raiders coach Matt Langel said. "Some of our experience definitely paid off. ... We didn't run anything tricky on the final play. We were just trying to get Braeden in some space and use his speed to get a decent shot.
"He's fast and he's slippery. He created some contact and those aren't easy foul shots -- he's got great confidence and he practices them all the time -- but they were big shots for sure."
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