Orange Heads West to Open Season

Syracuse (0-0) at Washington State (0-0)
Game Details	Sunday, Nov. 10 \| Pullman, Wash. \| 4 p.m. ET Beasley Coliseum \| Directions
Game Coverage	Watch: Pac12.com Live Stats Twitter: @CuseWBB \| @cuse
Syracuse Links	Roster \| Schedule \| Game Notes
Washington State Links	Roster \| Schedule \| Game Notes

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Syracuse women's basketball opens the 2013-14 season on Sunday, Nov. 10 at Washington State in a game that will tip off at 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
• The Orange, under eighth-year head coach Quentin Hillsman, is looking to build off one of the most successful seasons in program history as it makes its debut in the ACC. The 2012-13 Syracuse squad went 24-8 (.750) overall, the best winning percentage in the NCAA era of the program, finished third in its final BIG EAST season with a 11-5 record, advanced to its fifth NCAA Tournament, and finished the year ranked 22nd in both major polls.
• Syracuse returns three starters and nine players overall from last season's team and welcomes a talented freshman class of five that was ranked as the 10th-best recruiting class in the country.

GAME COVERAGE
• All the Orange's games can be heard live on SU's flagship station, ESPN 97.7 FM/1200 AM, and on Orange All-Access at SUAthletics.com. Evan Weston will be on the call of Sunday's game. Free live stats are also available at SUathletics.com.
• Washington State will have a live webcast of the game at WSUcougars.com.
• As always, follow @CuseWBB on Twitter for live in-game updates.

FOR OPENERS...
• Syracuse is 29-13 (.690) all-time in season debuts, including a 94-47 victory last season against Fairleigh Dickinson at the Carrier Dome.
• This year's opener is the 16th time in the last 21 seasons that SU has begun the year on the road, but it opened at home the last four seasons.
• The Orange is 6-1 in its season debuts under eighth-year head coach Quentin Hillsman. SU lost at Penn State, 71-46, in Hillsman's first game at the helm of the program, but has gone 6-0 since. SU has defeated Coppin State (69-65), Siena (89-75), Fairleight Dickinson (65-45), Northeastern (72-60), Long Beach State (81-42), and Fairleigh Dickinson (94-47) in its last five season openers.

ORANGE PICKED 7TH IN ACC
• Syracuse was picked to finish seventh in its first Atlantic Coast Conference season in preseason polls announced by the ACC at its Media Day on Oct. 23. The Orange was seventh in both the Blue Ribbon Panel poll and the coaches poll.
• Defending conference champion Duke was picked to first in both polls. The Blue Devils, who return all five starters, 11 letterwinners and top seven scorers from last season's team that finished 33-3 and reached the regional final of the 2013 NCAA Women's Championship, were listed as this year's preseason favorite by 39 Blue Ribbon Panel voters.

SERIES HISTORY
• Syracuse and Washington State met for the first time ever last season, with SU cruising to a 64-51 win at the Carrier Dome on Dec. 21. Kayla Alexander led the way with 18 points. Elashier Hall added 13 points and Brianna Butler had 10. The Orange used a 14-0 run midway through the first half to take control.
• The Orange men's basketball team is 1-1 against the Cougars with the last meeting being in SU's Final Four season of 1995-96. SU football is 1-0 against Washington State, winning 52-25 at Rich Stadium in Buffalo in 1979, the year the Carrier Dome was being built.

NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
• SU went 7-0 in the month of November in 2012-13, its fourth-straight undefeated Nov., a string of 24 games.
• Since 2007, Syracuse is 30-3 (.909) in November. It has not lost since Nov. 26, 2008 at Alaska-Anchorage, 58-57.

2012-13 SEASON REWIND
Syracuse enjoyed a record-setting 2012-13 campaign. The Orange finished the season 24-8 overall record, establishing the best winning percentage (.750) since becoming an NCAA Division I program. Its 24 wins was the fourth-most in school history. It was the third-most wins in the NCAA-era for the Orange, with the only higher wins totals coming in 2009-10 and 2010-11 under Hillsman (25 wins each).
• Syracuse made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years and fifth overall. The Orange earned a seven-seed in the Oklahoma City region, falling to Creighton in the first round, 61-56, in Knoxville, Tenn.
• The Orange finished the season ranked No. 22 in both the AP and USA TODAY Coaches Polls. SU was ranked for 10-straight weeks in the coaches poll and seven striaght weeks in the AP poll, including program bests of No. 18 and No. 21 in each.
• Four Orange players earned BIG EAST season awards. Senior center Kayla Alexander was named All-BIG EAST First Team, freshmen guards Brittney Sykes and Brianna Butler were named to the All-Freshman Team, and senior guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas won the BIG EAST Sixth-Man Award.
• Syracuse's 2-3 zone defense held opponents to the second-worst field goal percentage in the BIG EAST (.346) and held the opposition to the lowest 3-point field goal percentage in the conference (.275). SU's 12.3 steals per game was the most in the BIG EAST and ranked seventh nationally.
• The Orange was the third-highest scoring team in the BIG EAST and 18th-best in the country at 72.0 points per game. That led to SU having the fourth-best scoring margin in the conference (+14.6), which ranked 18th in the NCAA.

WHATS NEW
• Head coach Quentin Hillsman welcomes a talented, five-player freshman class in 2013-14 that is ranked is ranked No. 10 in the country by Dan Olson's Collegiate Girls Basketball Report and No. 12 by Blue Star Basketball Report.
• The class consists of 6-1 guard Tasia Butler (Waldorf, Md.), 6-4 twins Bria Day and Briana Day (Raleigh, N.C.), 5-6 guard Alexis Peterson (Northland, Ohio), and 6-0 guard Isabella Slim (Amsterdam, Netherlands).
• The class joins the Orange sophomore class that was ranked as the No. 6 recruiting class in the country by ESPN Hoopgurlz in 2012 to form the nucleus representing the future of the Orange program.

IN THE POLLS
• Syracuse received eight votes in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
• SU was ranked No. 22 in both the final Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches polls last season. It was ranked for seven-straight weeks in the AP poll and 10-straight weeks in the coaches poll, both program records.
• The Orange peaked in the polls on the week of Feb. 18 when it was 21-3, setting all-time highs of No. 21 in the AP and No. 18 in the coaches' poll.

THE ORANGE ZONE
• When people think 2-3 zone, they think Syracuse, and the women's program added to that lore in 2012-13. The Orange held its opponents to the second-lowest shooting percentage in the BIG EAST and 18th-lowest nationally (.346).
• SU also proved wrong the myth that zone teams are susceptible to 3-point shooting. SU held its opponents to the worst 3-point shooting percentage in the league (.275).

MASTER THIEVES
• Syracuse's 2012-13 opponents averaged 20.3 turnovers per game, resulting in a +3.94 turnover margin. The Orange scored 20.5 points per game off turnovers.
• Among its season highlights, the defense had an 18-steal effort at Georgetown on Feb. 12 in which it forced 27 turnovers.
• SU set a Carrier Dome record for the second time of the season, recording 22 steals vs. Providence on Feb. 2, breaking the mark of 21 steals against Boise State on Dec. 30. The Dome record prior to this season was 20 on Dec. 14, 2008 vs. Niagara. The program record is 31 (vs. Marist on Jan. 11, 1980).
• SU's thievery was a balanced effort, with Elashier Hall (2.3), Brittney Sykes (2.0 per game) leading the way.

DOMINATING THE GLASS
• Dominant rebounding has become the norm for the Orange in recent years. Syracuse averaged 44.0 rebounds per game in 2012-13, with the most impressive showing being a 61-35 advantage on Nov. 20 at St. Joe's.
• SU led the BIG EAST in offensive rebounds (17.6), ranked second in total rebounds per game (44.0), and was fourth in rebounding margin (+5.5).
• The Orange turned its league-leading offensive rebounding into 16.4 second-chance points per game.
• Kayla Alexander (970) and Carmen Tyson-Thomas (903) concluded their careers ranked second and fifth on the Syracuse career rebounding list.
• SU finished second in the NCAA in rebounding in 2011-12, averaging 46.2 per game and ranked 11th in rebounding margin (+8.9).
• SU led the NCAA in rebounding margin in 2010-11 at +13.4/game and outrebounded 31 of its 35 opponents.

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