Syracuse Heads To Notre Dame For ACC Opener

Game Details: Saturday, Dec. 7, South Bend, Ind., 12 p.m.
TV: The CW
Live Coverage: Stats
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Syracuse (4-3) opens ACC play Saturday with a road contest against Notre Dame (4-5) at Purcell Pavilion. It will be the first conference game for both teams.

Setting The Stage
On Tuesday, the Orange fell to No. 3 Tennessee in an ACC/SEC Challenge game in Knoxville, 96-70. Freshman Elijah Moore scored a career-high 24 points in the defeat, with fellow rookie Donnie Freeman also reaching double figures with 10 points.

Notre Dame enters Saturday's matchup on a five-game slide, which began with an 84-77 loss to Elon on Nov. 22. The Fighting Irish then went 0-3 at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas with losses to Rutgers, No. 6 Houston and No. 21 Creighton. Notre Dame also dropped their ACC/SEC Challenge contest on Tuesday, as the Fighting Irish lost to Georgia, 69-48.

Micah Shrewsberry is in his second season as Notre Dame's head coach. He guided the Fighting Irish to a 13-20 record in 2023-24.

The Syracuse-Notre Dame Series
Saturday's contest will be the 57^th all-time meeting between Syracuse and Notre Dame. The Orange lead the head-to-head, 34-22.

The Orange have won three straight games against the Fighting Irish and won the lone meeting between the teams last season, 88-85. Syracuse is 15-11 in games played at Notre Dame and has won three straight trips to South Bend.

Moore Emerging
Moore is coming off the two best scoring games of his debut season with the Orange. The freshman guard dropped 19 points against Cornell on Nov. 27 and followed that up with a career-high 24 on Tuesday against No. 3 Tennessee. Moore came off the bench in both performances.

Over the last two games, Moore has gone 15-of-24 from the field, which includes an 8-of-15 clip from beyond the arc. The freshman has risen to second on the team this season with 10 triples and is averaging 9.1 points while playing 16.9 minutes per outing.

Freeman Wins Co-Rookie Of The Week
On Monday, Freeman earned ACC Co-Rookie of the Week honors, the first weekly conference award of his career. The freshman scored a career-high 23 points in a victory over Cornell on Nov. 27 to net the honor. He went 8-of-16 from the field and 7-of-7 from the line against the Big Red.

Freeman has scored in double figures four times this season, which includes a 10-point effort in Syracuse's most recent game against No. 3 Tennessee. Freeman is third on the Orange with 11.7 points per contest and leads the team with 8.4 boards per outing.

Ring The Bell
Chris Bell is Syracuse's top 3-point shooter this season, as the junior has knocked down 11 triples. Bell went 2-of-6 from beyond the arc on Tuesday against No. 3 Tennessee, his fourth game this season with multiple makes from distance.

On the season, Bell is Syracuse's second leading scorer, as his 13.3 points per game trail only J.J. Starling. He leads the team in free throw makes on the campaign (24) and went a career-best 11-of-11 from the line against Texas Tech at the UKG Legends Classic last month. It was the most free throw makes without a miss in a game by a Syracuse player since Marek Dolezaj went 12-for-12 against Georgia Tech on Feb. 22, 2020.

Bell is also coming off a strong defensive effort against the Volunteers, as he registered a career-best three steals.

Controlling The Glass
As a team, Syracuse averages 40.6 rebounds per game, which ranks No. 2 in the ACC. The Orange also hold a 5.9 rebounding margin, the sixth best in the conference. Syracuse has pulled down 40 or more rebounds in four of seven games this season.

Three Syracuse players are averaging at least six rebounds per contest – Freeman (8.4), Eddie Lampkin Jr. (6.9) and Jyare Davis (6.1). Lampkin Jr. leads the Orange with 21 offensive boards, with Davis close behind at 17. Freshman Petar Majstorovic has also been effective crashing the offensive glass, as his 11 offensive rebounds are the third most on the Orange.

Double-Doubles
Three different Syracuse players have recorded double-doubles in the team's first seven games. Freeman leads the way with three after posting one last week against Cornell. Lampkin Jr. has two, with the most recent coming against Youngstown State. Davis also turned in a double-double in the season opener against Le Moyne with his 22 points and 12 rebounds, both of which led the Orange against the Dolphins.

Scouting Notre Dame
Markus Burton is Notre Dame's top scorer this season with 18.2 points per game but has not played since logging just three minutes of the team's loss to Rutgers on Nov. 26. Braeden Shrewsberry (15.2) and Tae Davis (14.4) are also averaging in double figures.

Kebba Njie leads the Fighting Irish with 5.7 rebounds per contest, followed by Davis' 5.4. Matt Allocco is pacing Notre Dame with 39 assists on the season and Julian Roper II has a team-best 11 steals.

Notre Dame currently ranks No. 3 among ACC teams in free throw percentage (76-percent) and is sixth in the conference in 3-point percentage (36-percent).

Freeman, Lampkin Jr. Make Preseason Watch Lists
Freeman is one of 20 players to make the preseason watch list for the 2025 Karl Malone Award, which recognizes the top power forwards in Division I men's basketball. Freeman, a McDonald's All-American and the second-highest Syracuse recruit in program history, is one of two freshmen to make this year's Malone Award watch list.

Lampkin Jr. is one of 20 preseason watch-list candidates for the 2025 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, which goes to the top center in men's college basketball. Lampkin Jr. is in his first year with the Orange and is averaging 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest.

The list for both awards will be narrowed to 10 in late January, and then to just five in late February. In March, the five finalists for both awards will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar, Malone and the Hall of Fame's selection committee where winners will be selected.

Orange fans are encouraged to participate in three rounds of Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, on hoophallawards.com.

Tickets
Syracuse men's basketball tickets are available online (cuse.com/tickets), by phone (1-888-DOMETIX) and at the Dome Box Office (Gate B).

For complete coverage of Syracuse men's basketball, follow the team on X (@Cuse_MBB) and Instagram (@cuse_mbb).

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Players Mentioned

Chris Bell

Donnie Freeman

Eddie Lampkin Jr.

Petar Majstorovic

Elijah Moore

J.J. Starling

Syracuse University Athletics