Syracuse marching band drums reverberated, orange-clad fans cheered and the Carrier Dome pregame festivities looked as they always had aside from one slight difference. 

It was minutes before tip-off, and across the chest of every SU player read in orange lettering “#NotAgainSU.” The student-led protests against the recent hate acts on campus started two weeks prior in the Barnes Center at The Arch and had manifested on Jim Boeheim Court. 

Both Syracuse (3-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) and Cornell (1-4) warmed up ahead of the Battle of the Boeheims — the annual contest and third-straight SU win between Orange head coach Jim Boeheim and his two sons, SU’s Buddy and Cornell’s Jimmy. A few hundred yards from the Dome, students and administrators piled into Hendricks Chapel for a community forum. The black T-shirts represented the dichotomy of each player’s current position: Concerned student taking stock of their campus or basketball player on the school’s most important team.

After a color guard carried the flag off the court, SU starters lifted the black material over their heads. With protests and an impending forum in Hendricks Chapel, the players decided they’d be both. 

“When I brought it up everyone really bought in,” forward Elijah Hughes said, “It was something we decided to do together.” 

The plan started last night in the team hotel. Hughes, who’d been following the movement outside of practice and games, connected with one of the #NotAgainSU members and “put his thoughts out” on the recent hate crimes that have circulated the recent news cycle. Hughes eventually settled on the idea of the T-shirts, and pitched the idea to the team during a meeting. 

Freshman forward Quincy Guerrier, a Canadian-native who arrived on campus in May, said the team bought in immediately. The movement and basketball team had crossed over before Wednesday night. Ahead of Syracuse’s Nov. 13 win over Colgate, SU’s student section, Otto’s Army, requested all students skip the game in solidarity with the then-early protests occurring in the Barnes Center. Students came anyway. Postgame, Boeheim said comments that angered the protestors. 

When Boeheim, Buddy and Hughes attended the Barnes Center sit-in on Nov. 16, Boeheim was confronted and the students rejected the pizza he offered them. Through it all, Buddy, Hughes and most of the players stayed quiet. 

Said Guerrier after the Cornell meeting: “It’s kind of hard for everyone on campus right now.”

“I’m trying to not really focus on it, I’m trying to focus on school,” he said “… I’m more aware now.”

They wanted to focus on their games, Guerrier said, but the news cycle dictated otherwise. Guerrier and other players had class canceled by professors after a white supremacist manifesto was posted on a forum on GreekRank.com.

As other students stayed in dorms and contemplated attending classes that weren’t rescheduled, NBA veteran and SU alum Dion Waiters visited Orange players in their apartment and played Madden, Hughes said. But the campus movement swirled and amid counter-scheduled town halls and impending finals, the players couldn’t avoid #NotAgainSU.

“I thought it was a good idea,” Boeheim said. “Everybody in the University thought it was a good idea.” 

A few hundred yards from the Dome court, students and administrators discussed the movement’s demands in Hendricks. When Syracuse Chancellor Kent Syverud refused to sign a list of requests, protestors filed out of Hendricks and into the cold night. Meanwhile, fans in the student section chanted for Jimmy to air-ball a free throw.

“We can do what we can,” Hughes said. “It’s hard cause at the end of the day we’re 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kids. If you can bring the school together in any way we’re going to try to.” 

Published on November 20, 2019 at 11:12 pm

Contact Nick: nialvare@syr.edu | @nick_a_alvarez