UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team kicked off the Gerry McNamara-era with a loss against the UConn Huskies in the team's first exhibition game of the season on Tuesday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena. 

The Orange, who are coming off a 15-17 season a year ago, had some strong moments, but ultimately fell 72-52.

Here's what you need to know from the contest. The takeaways are in no particular order.

Syracuse struggled in the half-court offense, especially in the first half. The way they combatted that was by getting out and running. At every turn, especially early, McNamara was imploring his guards to push the tempo. If the Orange are going to be successful, they'll have to be able to move the pace and use their athleticism. That athleticism is one of their greatest assets.

The freshman, who is the only true freshman from the United States on this roster, followed McNamara from Siena to Syracuse and instantly showed what he could do. While he didn't score much (4 points, 1-of-10 shooting), he successfully helped push the fast break, initiated offense, and didn't seem physically overmatched by ball pressure. He also showed a craftiness in maneuvering with the ball in his hands. He had a really nice finish out of the U-12 media timeout in the second half.

One of the biggest stories that we wanted to see coming in was how Kiyan Anthony's physical transformation manifested itself on the floor. While he still struggled from the outside (0-for-5 from three), he did have a better time getting to the rim and navigating contact. He's crafty with the ball in his hands and will probably always rely more on his artistry than his strength, but he showed the ability to absorb the contact in a different way than a season ago.

He finished with six points.

We thought this in the summer based on social media videos from the Syracuse accounts, but it was fully evident in this setting. He started the game and made sure to get all his teammates engaged, he was constantly looking to the bench for instructions and relaying them to guys on the floor. And he was giving encouragement to his teammates at every turn.

Not only is he going to be one of this team's better scorers, he's also it's biggest on-court presence.

Tobiason, a transfer from Temple, is expected to be one of this team's best players and maybe its best shooter. He started the game at one of the two guard spots but injured his right leg early in the first half and did not return.

Anthony started in his place in the second half.

So, point No. 1 and No. 6 are related.

If you've been reading us this offseason, we've recently raised the point that Syracuse seems to have a number of very good players, but they seem to lack one great player. In that vein, they don't seem to have one player who can take over offensively or who can create a shot anytime they want. As a result? Getting out in transition will be even more important. They just don't appear fully built for the half-court system - at least not right now.

The Huskies are big, but so are the Orange. However, UConn out-rebounded the Orange 41-33.

We heard this offseason that White's three-point shooting had improved, and we saw some of that in this game. He banked in his first attempt, getting a wry smile from McNamara, before confidently sinking his second one as well. He was 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and also hit a nice foul-line jumper. He led the team in scoring with 17. 

As we just mentioned, the Orange kind of lack that true superstar. We're not saying that Monroe, the fifth-year Quinnipiac transfer, is a superstar, but as a fifth-year, he has the physicality to play at this level. He was a bit passive in this contest and SU would benefit from him playing with a bit more of an edge.

He had four fouls before the 10-minute mark of the second half and finished with nine points. He was just 1-of-5 from the floor but was 6-of-6 from the foul line.

Syracuse will be back in action on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m. ET) against Siena in Loudonville, N.Y. The Siena program will honor McNamara, Gavin Doty, Francis Folefac and Tasman Goodrick's contributions to last season's MAAC championship. Siena will be raising the championship banner that day.

We'll have more commentary on this game over the next several days here at SyracuseRoundtable.