Syracuse men’s basketball has gotten off to a 3-0 start under first-year head coach Adrian Autry after rallying from a 24-point deficit for a 79-75 win over Colgate on Tuesday. The Orange topped New Hampshire and Canisius last week.

SU’s schedule, though, is about to drastically heat up. Syracuse heads to the Maui Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii, next week for the first time in 10 years.

The Orange have never lost a game in the tournament — they’re 10-0 all-time — but will face No. 7 Tennessee on Tuesday afternoon in their first game. Then, a game against either No. 2 Purdue or No. 11 Gonzaga, followed by a third game in three days on Wednesday.

Here’s five things to watch for ahead of SU’s first significant stretch of the season:

Loaded tournament bracket awaits

The Maui Invitational is one of college basketball’s most prestigious early-season tournaments, and this year’s edition fittingly features some of the nation’s top teams.

No. 1 Kansas and No. 4 Marquette join Purdue as top-five teams participating, and UCLA sits just outside the AP Top 25 after a 3-0 start. Tennessee, UCLA and Gonzaga all made it to the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA Tournament, too. The Boilermakers have 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey, the reigning national player of the year.

Syracuse has played in the invitational three other times (1990, 1998 and 2013), and won the tourney each year. Doing so next week — or even just winning two of three games — would be a nice surprise for a program that’s missed the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons.

Can Mintz, Bell continue hot shooting?

Point guard Judah Mintz spurned the NBA Draft to return to Syracuse for a sophomore season, and has impressed through three games, leading the team with 23 points and five assists per game. Behind him in scoring is sophomore forward Chris Bell, who notched a career-high 25 points against Colgate.

While Mintz was one of Syracuse’s top scorers last season, too, Bell wasn’t a consistent scoring threat. He had eight games with double-digit points, but also registered 11 games with four points or fewer. Bell has the reputation of being a strong shooter, and made six threes on Tuesday, but also went a combined 3-for-11 from 3-point range in SU’s first two games.

Benny Williams’ return

Junior forward Benny Williams made his return to the court on Tuesday, but was held scoreless in 10 minutes of action.

The 6-foot-9 wing was suspended for Syracuse’s first two games, and his rebounding abilities and athleticism were supposed to provide the Orange with a boost. Autry, though, went with Bell and Justin Taylor in the starting lineup instead of Williams, and the junior missed all four of his shots and only had one rebound.

Wiliams was a regular in SU’s starting five last season, and like Bell, had an up-and-down season. Next week, the Orange could certainly use the Williams that notched 18 points and 11 rebounds to finish the season against Wake Forest last year, and not the Williams they had on Tuesday.

Rebounding struggles

Colgate outrebounded Syracuse 44-32, and SU recorded the same number of boards (37) as Canisius did.

The switch from the 2-3 zone to a man-to-man defense was expected to alleviate some of the Orange’s usual rebounding woes — they haven't finished higher than 11th in rebounding margin in the ACC since 2018 — but that hasn’t been the case through three games.

Tennessee and Purdue each ranked in the top 25 nationally in rebounds per game last season, and Gonzaga is fourth so far this year.

Pressing the issue

Syracuse pressed full-court for most of the second half against Colgate, helping lead to 19 Raiders turnovers and a comeback win.

Last season, players said they wanted to press more, and Autry said after the Canisius game that he wanted SU to work on its press. With a deeper bench than in past years — nine players saw time against Colgate — the Orange can apply more pressure and play at a faster pace. It’s a weapon Autry has at his disposal as SU enters Maui as a heavy underdog.