
'Cuse Hits the Road to Face #2 Fighting Irish
2/8/2014 11:20:00 AM | Women's Basketball
| rv/rv Syracuse (17-6, 6-4 ACC) at No. 2/2 Notre Dame (22-0, 9-0 ACC) | |
| Game Details |
Sunday, Feb. 9 | 3 p.m. ET | South Bend, Ind. Purcell Pavilion (9,149) |
| Game Coverage |
TV: RSN (list of affiliates) Watch:Â ESPN3/WatchESPN Radio: ESPN 97.7/100.1 FM & 1200 AM |Â Orange All-Access Live Stats: GameTracker Twitter:Â @CuseWBBÂ |Â @cuse |
| Syracuse Links | Roster | Schedule | Stats | Game Notes |
| Notre Dame Links | Roster | Schedule | Stats |
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -Â Syracuse women's basketball (17-6, 6-4 ACC), winner of five of its last six games, travels to South Bend, Ind. to face No. 2 Notre Dame (22-0, 9-0 ACC) on Sunday in a 3 p.m. tip-off at Purcell Pavilion.
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GAME COVERAGE
• The game will be televised live on the ACC Regional Sports Network with Tom Werme '91 and Debbie Antonelli on the call. Locally, it will air on the YES Network.
• The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app.
• All games can be heard live on SU's flagship station, ESPN 97.7/100.7 FM, 1200 AM, and on Cuse.com with Brian Higgins '04 on the call.
• Free live stats are available at Cuse.com.
• As always, follow @CuseWBB on Twitter for live in-game updates.
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ORANGE STRONG IN '13-14
• An aggressive non-conference schedule, paired with a challenging start to the ACC slate has helped the Orange achieve a No. 17 ranking in the latest official NCAA RPI ratings, released on Feb. 3.
• The Sagarin/CBN Ratings have SU 17th with the No. 7 strength-of-schedule in the country.
• Syracuse went 11-2 in its non-conference schedule, the seventh time in program history the Orange was 11-2 or better after 13 games.
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AN ORANGE WIN WOULD...
• ...be its first vs. Notre Dame in 15 games (3/3/02).
• ...be its first at Notre Dame and make SU 3-26 all-time against the Irish.
• ...tie for the highest-ranked opponent it has ever beaten (No. 2 UConn, 62-59, 1/2/96) and mark its highest ranked road win ever.
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SERIES HISTORY
• Syracuse is 2-26 all-time against Notre Dame, including an 0-13 record in South Bend.
• Notre Dame has won 14 in a row in the series, dating back to an 84-79 Syracuse victory No. 21/25 Irish on March 3, 2002 in the BIG EAST Tournament at Rutgers.
• In last season's meeting, on Feb. 26 at Purcell Pavilion, the No. 22 Orange led by as many as 15 in the first half, but No. 2 Notre Dame used a 23-4 run midway through the game to win 79-68. Kayla Alexander had 24 points and 16 rebounds and Carmen Tyson-Thomas added 18 points for SU, while Kayla McBride led ND with 25 points and Skylar Diggins had 24 points, 21 of which came in the opening half.
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IN THE POLLS
• Syracuse is receiving votes this week in both the Associated Press and USA TODAY coaches polls. It was previously ranked for five straight weeks in the AP poll and a total of three weeks in the coaches poll this season.
• The Orange was ranked an all-time program high 20th in the Dec. 23 and Dec. 30 AP polls. It was as high as No. 23 in the coaches poll on Dec. 23.
• The Orange debuted in the AP poll on Dec. 2 at No. 22 and was ranked for four-straight weeks.
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LAST TIME OUT
• Brittney Sykes scored a career-best 31 points en route to a 73-48 victory over Virginia Tech (11-11, 1-8 ACC) on Play 4Kay night on Thursday, the program's 100th victory at the Carrier Dome (100-46, .685).
• Sykes scored 21 of her points in the first half, the most since Nicole Michael's 26 against Binghamton on Nov. 22, 2009 on her way to a Carrier Dome record 36 points. • Briana Day was one point shy of a double-double with nine points and a career-high matching 12 rebounds and contributed a career-best six blocked shots. Cornelia Fondren added nine points, tying her personal best, while Rachel Coffey pitched in eight assists to tie her season high.
ORANGE UPSETS #6 TAR HEELS
• Brianna Butler scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the second half as Syracuse came back from an 18-point deficit to upset No. 6 North Carolina (17-4, 5-2 ACC), 78-73, on Jan. 30 at Carmichael Arena. SU outscored the Heels, 46-23, over the final 18:40.
• Brittney Sykes added 17 points, while Briana Day had 11 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
• The only higher ranked team Syracuse has ever defeated were No. 2 Connecticut, 62-59, on Jan. 2, 1996 at Manley Field House. It matches the Orange's 75-66 win over No. 6 Ohio State on Dec. 11, 2010 at the Carrier Dome as the highest ranked team beaten in head coach Quentin Hillsman's tenure.
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WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS
• Syracuse's come-from-behind 78-73 upset win at No. 6 North Carolina on Jan. 30 is the highest ranked road win in program history and is tied for second overall.
• SU's 15-point win over the No. 12/11 Texas A&M on Nov. 30 is the fifth-highest ranked opponent the Orange has ever beaten.
• Four of the top five ranked teams SU has ever beaten have come in Quentin Hillsman's tenure as head coach.
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MASTER THIEVES
• With an aggressive fullcourt press and trapping 2-3 zone defense, the Orange boasts the second-best turnover margin in the ACC (20th nationally) at +5.1 and has produced an average of 22.7 points per game this season off its opponents' 20.0 turnovers per game.
• In its last five games, SU has scored 23.2 points per game off 20.0 opponent turnovers.
• Syracuse scored a season-high 53 points off 31 turnovers in its 113-42 win vs. Maryland Eastern Shore. SU totaled 18 steals by nine different players.
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TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
• Also aiding the ACC's second-best turnover margin is the fact that Syracuse has turned the ball over the tied-for-fourth-fewest times in the ACC at 15.0 per game.
• SU surrenders just 14.9 ppg off its turnovers, resulting in a +7.8 margin in points per game off turnovers.
• Brianna Butler boasts the best assist-to-turnover ratio on the team (and third in the ACC if she qualified) at 60-to-29 (2.07).
• Point guard Rachel Coffey has the ACC's best assist-to-turnover in conference play at 3.5 (38-11) and the third-best overall at 2.1 (95-45).
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UP NEXT
•  Syracuse returns home to host Florida State on Thursday in a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Carrier Dome, its penultimate home game of the season.
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