WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mike Hopkins’ fist sat under his chin, his unwavering gaze focused in on the first play of his head coaching career. The top button of his light blue shirt was covered by his perfectly-placed red and blue striped tie. His suit jacket was on. His composure was perfect to the naked eye.

The first few possessions seemed the same, with the head coach rarely getting out of his seat. When he did, whatever he said was likely drowned out by the sold out Verizon Center crowd.

“I always visualized myself doing it,” Hopkins said. “I was excited. I was really excited.”

He watched a first half in which Syracuse shot 2-of-13 from 3 and was outrebounded 20-11. He watched the Orange fall back by as many as 21 on a third-chance putback by Bradley Hayes. He watched as Syracuse’s comeback attempt fell short in a 79-72 loss to SU’s former Big East rival on Saturday.

It was all done on the backdrop of Hopkins’ first game as a head coach. A Syracuse assistant for 20 years, he was promoted to interim coach when the NCAA announced Jim Boeheim’s nine-game suspension would begin nearly a month before it was supposed to.

“I think he did a good job of being uplifting,” Michael Gbinije said. “He brought some energy for us when we needed it. … He’s just a genuinely positive guy. It was our first game with him. His first game with us.”

When the Hoyas doubled Syracuse’s score at 24-12, the newly-minted head coach called a timeout and waved his players vigorously toward the bench.

It was on that bench that Hopkins kept an open seat for Boeheim, with his name written on a piece of tape going from top to bottom. When Hopkins got emotional during his postgame press conference it was when he said he wanted to win it for him.

Before tipoff, Gbinije said a couple of the players discussed playing for Boeheim, so he could see the product of the program that he’s built. The loss left the players short of their goal. And still, Hopkins is left with eight more games without his mentor — one that can’t provide that service when he needs it the most.

“Imagine if all of a sudden someone came and said you can’t talk to your father for a month and you live down the street,” Hopkins said. “That’s tough.”

With Syracuse in the middle of its run to cut a 21-point lead down to six, Hopkins unbuttoned the top of his shirt and loosened his tie. He took his jacket off.

After a Trevor Cooney 3, he stomped on the court, hoping to inspire his team to get the timely stop it lacked all night. He put his hands to his hips as Cooney turned the ball over after tripping to the ground as the game trickled out of reach. He turned to face his bench. Nearly all the Georgetown fans in attendance began chanting “Where is Boeheim?”

But Boeheim wasn’t there for any of it. From midnight on Saturday until Jan. 9, the head coaching job is for a man who Boeheim’s already deemed his predecessor. It’s not Hopkins’, yet. But for the next eight games, it’s his team to lead.

“I felt very comfortable,”Hopkins said. “There was something … I felt like I was playing. That was pretty surreal.”

Published on December 5, 2015 at 5:44 pm

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