ALBANY, NY – Siena Basketball celebrates its 2026 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship and unofficially tips off the Nevada Smith Era when the Saints host Empire State and Atlantic Coast Conference foe Syracuse in a premier preseason exhibition Sunday at MVP Arena. The Saints will honor this past season's title-winning team in a special pregame ceremony at 1:30 p.m. preceding the 2 p.m. tip-off.
 
TICKETS
As of Saturday evening, more than 8,000 tickets had been sold. An extremely limited number of tickets remain available for purchase in the lower bowl, with seats in the 200 Sections priced at $35 (service fees apply if purchasing through Ticketmaster). Tickets can be secured online in advance at sienasaints.com/syracuse, in-person at the MVP Arena Box Office, or by contacting Ticketmaster by phone at (800) 745-3000. The Siena Fan Relations Management Center is on-hand to handle all ticket-related inquiries, and can be reached by phone at (518) 487-2235 or by e-mail at sienatickets2@siena.edu. For all Siena Basketball ticket-related information, log onto sienasaints.com/tickets.
 
FAMILY DAY PRESENTED BY FENIMORE ASSET MANAGEMENT
Sunday marks the first Family Day presented by Fenimore Asset Management this season. All children and their families are welcome to come down to the court postgame to shoot free throws and take pictures.
 
2026 MAAC CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION (1:30 PM)
Before ushering in a new era of Siena Basketball, the Saints will take time to reflect upon the program's most recent historic chapter with a number of the 2026 MAAC Champions in the house.
 
At 1:30 p.m., the Saints will recognize last season's title-winning team with a special pregame ceremony including the unfurling of the 2026 MAAC Championship banner and distribution of championship rings. In addition to the five returning Siena players and special assistant Brian Beaury – as well as several former Saints who will be in attendance – the Syracuse program includes nine members from last season's championship squad who will be honored including players Gavin Doty, Francis Folefac, and Tasman Goodrick, and head coach Gerry McNamara.
 
Led by McNamara, the 2025-26 Saints captured the program's seventh MAAC Tournament Championship and made an eighth NCAA Tournament appearance last spring, returning to the Big Dance for the first time in 16 years. Siena won 23 games – a nine-win improvement and the program's highest total since 2009-10 – and nearly pulled off one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history against No. 1 overall seed Duke. The Saints led by as 13 points – handing the Blue Devils their largest deficit all season – and by 11 at intermission, marking the largest-ever halftime lead by a No. 16 seed over a No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament history, before ultimately succumbing 71-65 in Greenville, South Carolina.
 
A NEW ERA
Sunday will provide a first glimpse at the 2026-27 Saints under the direction of Smith, who was named the 20^th head coach in program history, succeeding McNamara on April 1. The now 46-year-old West Leechburg, Pennsylvania native previously served eight seasons as a head coach in both the NBA G League and at the NCAA Division III level. Smith matriculated to Loudonville following six transformative seasons at the power-conference level, working on staff for Shaka Smart at both Marquette (2021-26) and Texas (2020-21). 
 
Siena was projected to finish third according to the Metro Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, while also receiving a pair of first-place votes. Juniors Brendan Coyle and Pace Prosser were both named Preseason All-Metro Second Team selections.
 
The lone returning starter from last season's championship team, Coyle is a college basketball unicorn. The local product from nearby Niskayuna, New York enters the 2026-27 campaign as one of just six Division I players who will be playing a fifth season with all having come at the same institution. Mr. Siena currently stands 10^th all-time in program history with 179 career threes.
 
Prosser matriculates to Loudonville after leading Gannon to the Division II National Championship last season. The Berlin, Pennsylvania standout averaged 18.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and ranked 22^nd nationally at the DII level in free throw percentage (.887) and 27^th in steals (2.2) while guiding the Golden Knights to a 34-3 record. Prosser, who amassed 1,172 points spanning his two seasons at Gannon, was named the Elite Eight MVP and a National Association of Basketball Coaches All-American amongst his numerous accolades last season.
 
Siena returns five players (four scholarship) from their 2026 MAAC Championship team while welcoming 11 newcomers featuring eight true freshmen. The Saints will thus sport 10 total underclassmen on their 2026-27 roster, which is tied with Idaho State and Texas for fifth-most nationally. Of the 11 Siena newcomers, seven hail from seven different foreign countries, as the Saints are tied with Pepperdine and Utah for the second-most international countries represented on their 2026-27 roster (UT Martin – 10).
 
SCOUTING SYRACUSE
Sienacuse – or Syracuse – returns to Albany for the first time in 22 years with a number of familiar faces in tow. Three members from last season's squad – MAAC Tournament MVP Doty, Folefac, and Goodrick – now suit up for the Orange who are now led by McNamara. The legendary Syracuse star also brought the entirety of his Siena coaching staff home with him to Central New York, while also re-recruiting one-time Siena commit Ryan Moesch to his Orange roster.  
 
Syracuse was predicted to finish 11^th (out of 18 teams) according to the ACC Preseason Poll after posting a 15-17 overall mark including a 6-12 ledger in league play a season ago. The Orange fell in their first preseason exhibition against perennial national power UConn 72-52 Tuesday in a neutral site game in Connecticut.
 
THE SERIES WITH SYRACUSE
The Empire State foes have met just eight previous times – all in regular season action – and not in 19 years since Syracuse edged Siena 97-89 as part of the 2007 Preseason NIT in Central New York. Seven of the eight all-time meetings have come in Syracuse, with the Orange also having been nationally ranked in seven of the eight previous tilts.
 
The programs met once previously in Albany, when the fourth-ranked Orange prevailed 78-56 on Nov. 27, 2004 behind a game-high 29 points from McNamara. The game was played in front of a crowd of 14,743 - the largest-ever for a Siena regular season game in downtown Albany, and second-biggest all-time overall. 
 
Siena (unofficially) tips off its 2026-27 season the same way it ended its previous campaign – against an ACC program. The Saints are a respectable 10-27 all-time against the 18 schools which currently comprise the ACC. Before being edged by Duke in the NCAA Tournament in March, Siena had won its previous ACC matchup with a statement 80-63 triumph over Florida State on Thanksgiving Day 2022 at the ESPN Events Invitational.  
 
HOW TO FOLLOW THE SAINTS AND ORANGE
Robert Lee, Kelly O'Donnell, and Steve Jones have the call of the game on ESPN+. The "Voice of the Saints" Emmanuel Berbari and former Saint Conner Fenlon '12 will have the radio call locally in the Capital Region on JAMZ 96.3 FM, with pregame coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m.
 
Follow the Saints on X (@SienaMBB), Facebook (SienaBasketball), and Instagram (sienambb) for all the latest news, updates, and content. Upload pictures of yourself and your friends enjoying the game through the Selfiefinder platform by clicking the corresponding link at the top of the page, or by downloading the Selfiefinder app and searching "Siena." The best selfies from the game will be displayed on the video scoreboard early in the second half. 
 
SEASON AND SINGLE-GAME TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
Siena officially tips off the program's 86^th season in just over two weeks' time on college basketball's Opening Night on Monday, Nov. 2 at Bryant, before returning to the Capital Region for their 2026-27 home-opener vs. Princeton on Sunday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. as the front-end of a doubleheader with the Siena women at MVP Arena.
 
2026-27 Siena Men's Basketball season tickets are on sale now and can be secured through the following avenues:
 
Siena Fan Relations Management Center
Renewals:                    sienasaints.com/accountmanager
New Season Tickets:   sienasaints.com/seasontix
By Phone:                    (518) 487-2235
By E-Mail:                     sienatickets2@siena.edu
Additional Information:  sienasaints.com/tickets
 
Single game tickets – which start as low as just $10 (prior to gameday) for all regular season games at MVP Arena – can be purchased through Ticketmaster online at sienasaints.com/mbbtickets (service fees apply) or by phone at (800) 745-3000. Fans can also secure their seats fee-free by visiting the MVP Arena Box Office during normal business hours, or by contacting the Siena Fan Relations Management Center.