Gerry McNamara Wins in His Orange Coaching Debut

On a cool, dark night in Central New York, Gerry McNamara stepped back into the Dome...

The same Dome that he was in with his teammates in the 2002-03 season en route to the school's first-ever NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament National Championship.

Also the same Dome where he was an Assistant Coach under Hall-of-Famer Jim Boeheim.

But, this time...

This time, the keys to the Dome belonged to Gerry.

His team, his moment to lead.

To start the game, junior guard Gavin Doty, the familiar face from Fulton, New York, had the first five points for the Orange, making a three on his first try as a member of the Orange and the team's first possession of the game, followed by a layup at the 16:51 mark.

After two free throws by sophomore guard Kiyan Anthony, the Orange had rolled ahead 18-0 with 12:32 left on the first-half clock.

The first points by the Chargers would come at the 12:13 mark on a layup by junior forward/center Moussa Camara that made it 18-2 Orange.

Inside 10 minutes left in the opening half, Doty stole the ball after a Syracuse miss and went underhand and under his defender for two to give Syracuse a 24-7 advantage.

With 6:33 remaining in the first half, New Haven had gotten the score to 26-12 Syracuse with sophomore forward Zoumana Traore connecting from long range followed by a layup by sophomore forward Teshaun Steele on back-to-back makes by the Chargers.

As the Orange went quiet from the field, the Chargers would cut their deficit into less than half, down 32-17 following a layup by Camara at the 2:20 mark.

The last bucket of the first half came from senior guard Garwey Dual from beyond the arc with 54 seconds on the game clock, giving Syracuse a 39-17 lead at the break.

With 6:49 left in the game, the Orange lead was 17, 64-47, after three-straight baskets by the Chargers, the first a pull-up by Camara, followed by layups by sophomore guard Tim Walker and Camara.

At the 5:44 mark of the second half when he grabbed his 10th rebound, Doty had secured his first double-double for Syracuse in his first game for Syracuse, with 14 points and 10 rebounds at this moment.

A spin and dish out the right corner by Doty found sophomore guard Kiyan Anthony who connected from deep to bring his scoring total to 17 points with his father, McNamara teammate, and National Champion, Carmelo, and mother and actress, LaLa, in the house.

The Orange never trailed in the game, with McNamara getting his first win in his first outing as the Syracuse Head Coach, by the score of 74-58.

Sophomore forward Sadiq White, Jr., joined Doty with a double-double as well, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Doty would finish with 14 points to go with 13 boards.

Steele and Camara attained double-figures for the Chargers, with 18 and 10, respectively.

The win moved Syracuse to 1-0 on the 2026-27 season, and New Haven to 0-1.