The UConn Huskies men's basketball exhibition opener against the Syracuse Orange on Oct. 13 just got more interesting as a court has granted a preliminary injunction to Syracuse forward Amarri Monroe, giving him the opportunity to play.

Monroe is one of the athletes battling for a fifth year of eligibility under the new "age-based eligibility model," that was accepted by the NCAA this summer. This injunction doesn't guarantee that he'll be able to play the entire season, but it certainly guarantees he'll be able to work into the fold when the two teams meet up at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.

A four-year standout who played one year at Wofford and three at Quinnipiac, Monroe has appeared in 118 career games. The MAAC Player of the Year in 2024-25, he led the conference in rebounding (9.1 per game) while also scoring 18.1 ppg.

As a traditional senior, he was named to the MAAC's First-Team, scoring 15.6 ppg and pulling down 8.3 rebounds.

He'll certainly make Syracuse better, and from UConn's perspective, he'll make them a bigger challenge in the exhibition slate, and that's really all that matters.

UConn is looking to prepare itself for arguably the toughest non-conference schedule in NCAA history, and having things be more difficult in the exhibition season is the only way to prepare for that.

Syracuse is coming off a season in which it went 15-17, missing the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight year. They fired previous head coach Adrian Autry and lost all five starters to graduation or the transfer portal. They hired former Syracuse star Gerry McNamara, who has brought in lots of talent that should make them more competitive in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

McNamara said shortly after getting the job that one of the things he wanted to do was play UConn again and re-establish the old Big East rivalry. He's done that with this contest.

Syracuse and UConn will play at 7 p.m. ET. The night before (Oct. 12), the two women's programs will meet at 6:30 p.m. Those two teams met in last season's NCAA Tournament with the Huskies rolling over the No. 9 Orange in Storrs.

The UConn women advanced to the Final Four where they lost to South Carolina. They finished the season at 38-1 overall.

They should be one of the top teams in the country again this year.