Justin Taylor visits Syracuse with future teammates Chris Bunch and Peter Carey

Prior to tip-off against the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday, assistant Syracuse Orange men’s basketball coach Gerry McNamara circled in front of the student section to welcome in three of Syracuse’s five recruits in the 2022 class.

McNamara greeted the families of next year’s recruits with a warm welcome as Justin Taylor, Peter Carey and Chris Bunch soaked in the atmosphere of the Duke game. Taylor, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard, made the trip with his family because he wanted to get a feel for the environment and strengthen relationships with future teammates.

“I wanted to come meet Chris, hang out with Peter and just kind of build that chemistry. It was a good game to come to. I was able to and it’s a great environment so I wanted to see that in person,” Taylor said.

The two members of the 2022 class who weren’t in attendance were Quadir Copeland, who Taylor played with at IMG Academy in Florida this season, and Maliq Brown, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Taylor’s home state of Virginia.

“Quadir’s my guy because we played together,” Taylor said. “I’ve known Malik for a while and then I started to get to know Peter and Chris. We’re going to have great chemistry together and I can wait to start playing with them.”

As for Syracuse’s class that ranks No. 25 nationally by 247, Taylor thinks it’s a class that covers a lot of ground. The Orange might not be done adding to that class as Judah Mintz, a top-50 combo guard, also visited over the weekend. But for now, Syracuse has a five-member class.

“I think it’s just a super skilled class in a lot of different areas, super athletic, long. We can shoot, we can score the ball,” He said. “Defensively we’re going to be really good because we’re going to be long and athletic. Just kind of bringing Syracuse back and just excited to get to work.”