On Sunday, the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team will travel to New York City to take on the St. John's Red Storm at Madison Square Garden.

The Orange (2-1) are coming off a difficult 83-80 loss against the Indiana Hoosiers while Rick Pitino's team is 3-0 in the early going.

St. John's lost Zuby Ejiofor and Dillon Mitchell to the NBA, but they still appear to be very strong, as evidenced by wins over Rutgers and No. 7 Texas in the exhibition season.

Make no doubt about it, this game will be fun and important for Gerry McNamara's team, but it won't be as fun as it was supposed to be.

Let's dive in.

One of the most important things that McNamara said he wanted to do when he got hired at Syracuse was get the Orange back on the floor at Madison Square Garden. This accomplishes a few things:

1) It restores some nostalgia for longtime Big East fans who remember the conference tournament being held there.

2) It gives this current team a chance to play in a great arena, and a big arena, which should help them prepare for other big games and, hopefully, NCAA Tournament appearances.

3) It just puts the Orange back on the big stage, which can help in recruiting. Visibility and brand awareness is big.

Speaking of nostalgia, this matchup will give longtime Big East fans a chance to relive the glory days.

And that has also been important to McNamara. He scheduled an exhibition game with the UConn Huskies and regular season games with St. John's, Rutgers and Providence, all of the former Big East. He's spoken with reverence about the league's history and is clearly trying to honor that.

Syracuse is 52-43 all-time against St. John's, but the two haven't met since Nov. 22, 2022. Syracuse lost that game 76-69 and has actually lost four straight in the rivalry. 

Because Donnie Freeman won't be playing. 

A junior now, Freeman was the best player on the Orange roster a season ago. However, he elected to transfer after Adrian Autry was let go. He signed on with St. John's, but is expected to miss the season after tearing his Achilles in the offseason.

He'll be back next season, but this game would have been even more fun if Syracuse's past met its present in more ways than just the revitalization of the old rivalry.

This game will start at 7 p.m. ET and will air on Peacock.