BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team pushed past the University at Buffalo 76-66 in its first exhibition game of the season. With Buffalo set to serve as one of the host sites for the opening weekend of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, Syracuse was keen on scheduling the game at the KeyBank Center. The Orange program will also play at another March Madness host site in the non-conference portion of its schedule.
“We had this opportunity to come up here and play because that’s the end goal to be playing in one of these sites,” Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry said. “Just the same as we play the Drexel game later on this month in one of the NCAA Tournament sites.“
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Syracuse will play Drexel from Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Nov. 15, another NCAA Tournament First and Second Round host site.
“I felt like it sent a good message to our team and our fans,” Autry said.
The thinking behind the intentional scheduling? To reinforce the primary goal to the team and to give players a sense of what it’s like to play in a tournament site.
“It’s really important,” senior guard JJ Starling said. “We get a feel of what it is to play in an arena like this. Obviously the atmosphere is different so to be able to play in an exhibition like that is big time for us because this is where we want to be.”
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Syracuse returned stars Donnie Freeman and Starling while revitalizing its roster with a talented freshman class and key transfers from the Power Four level. It’s a long way until March and the Orange will have work to do if its to end a four-year NCAA Tournament drought. Syracuse led by as many as 18 Saturday night before letting Buffalo trim the lead to four with over a minute left. There were defensive lulls and 17 Orange turnovers led to 16 points for the Bulls.
Syracuse was the host team despite the game being played in Buffalo. The game’s location helps engage fans in Western New York.
KeyBank Center holds as many as 19,200 fans for basketball. Buffalo has hosted the NCAA Tournament opening rounds seven times since 2000.
“We understand why it’s an NCAA Tournament site,” Kiyan Anthony said. “It’s the main goal that all college teams look forward to — which is end your season hearing your name called — being in the tournament. That’s definitely what we feel like we’re capable of and definitely what we want to do.”
