Orange, Eagles Set For Saturday Dome Tilt

Game Details: Saturday, Feb. 8, Syracuse, N.Y., 3:15 p.m.
TV: The CW
Live Coverage: Stats
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Syracuse (10-13, 4-8 ACC) finishes a two-game homestand Saturday at the JMA Wireless Dome with a clash against Boston College (10-12, 2-9 ACC). Tip-off is slated for 3:15 p.m. and the game will air live on The CW.

Syracuse will honor its 1974-75 NCAA Final Four team at halftime to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Orange's first ever trip to the Final Four.

Setting The Stage
The Orange fell to No. 2 Duke on Wednesday at the Dome, 83-54. Jyare Davis and J.J. Starling paced Syracuse with 12 points each with Naheem McLeod also reaching double figures, scoring a season-best 10 points. Eddie Lampkin Jr. surpassed 1,000 career points in the defeat.

Last Saturday, Boston College stormed back to upend Florida State, 77-76, overcoming an eight-point deficit in the final minute of regulation, which included scoring the final five points of the contest in the final four seconds. Chas Kelley III made the game-winning 3-pointer to complete the improbable comeback. The Eagles lost to Louisville at home, 84-58, on Wednesday.

Syracuse and Boston College met in Boston on Jan. 11, with the Orange notching a 79-71 triumph at Conte Forum. Starling led five Syracuse players in double figures with 26 points.

Boston College is led by fourth-year head coach Earl Grant, who led the Eagles to their highest win total since 2010-11 last season with 20 victories. He also took Boston College to the second round of the NIT a season ago.

The Syracuse-Boston College Series
Syracuse leads the series against Boston College, 59-27. The Orange defeated the Eagles earlier this season at Conte Forum. Last season, the teams split a pair of decisions, with Syracuse winning, 69-59, at the Dome and the Eagles defending their home court, 80-75. Prior to Boston College's victory last season, the Orange had won 11 straight meetings between the teams.

The Orange are 26-6 against the Eagles at the Dome and have won 10 straight meetings between the teams there. Since the Orange joined the ACC, Boston College has won just one game at the Dome, which came in 2014 when the Eagles upset No. 1 Syracuse, 66-60, in overtime.

Boston College is Syracuse's eighth most familiar opponent, as Saturday will be the 87^th meeting between the teams. Pittsburgh (127 meetings) is the only current ACC member the Orange have faced more than Boston College.

The Rematch
Syracuse rallied late in the second half to clip Boston College at Conte Forum on Jan. 11, 79-71. Trailing 54-46 with 8:51 to go, the Orange finished the contest on a 33-17 run to complete the comeback bid.

Kyle Cuffe Jr. scored all 10 of his points in the final 8:33, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers to push Syracuse ahead, 62-58. The Orange maintained the lead for the final 4:51 of the game after not holding an advantage at any time prior in the second half.

Starling lifted the Orange with a 20-point second-half effort, making 9-of-14 shot attempts after intermission. Over the final nine minutes of regulation, he went 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-2 at the free throw line to helps seal the win.

Five Syracuse players scored in double figures – Starling (26), Lucas Taylor (15), Davis (12), Lampkin Jr., (10) and Cuffe Jr. (10). The Orange shot 58-percent from the field in the second half and committed just five turnovers, which is still the fewest in a game for Syracuse this season.

1974-75 Final Four Team Celebration
Syracuse's 1974-75 team, the first Orange squad to advance to the NCAA Final Four, will reconvene for a 50th anniversary celebration at halftime on Saturday.

The Orange went 20-7 that season and won the regional title in the ECAC Playoffs to secure an NCAA Tournament bid. Syracuse opened the event with an 87-83 victory over La Salle in overtime before knocking off North Carolina in the next round after a Jimmy Lee jumper with five seconds left secured a 78-76 upset.

In the regional final, Syracuse prevailed in another overtime game, this time holding on to defeat Kansas City, 95-87. Rudy Hackett led the Orange with 28 points and 16 rebounds to help secure Syracuse's first Final Four spot.

Syracuse lost its semifinal to Kentucky, 95-79, despite Lee's 23 points. Lee averaged 23.4 pointes per game during the tournament, the top mark in the postseason.

Starling Eclipses 1,000 Points
Starling surpassed 1,000 career points in Syracuse's most recent victory at California. The junior guard entered the night with 990 points and hit the 1,000 mark with a floater at the 15:09 mark of the second half. He finished the contest with 18 points.

It took Starling 75 career games to reach the 1,000-point threshold, with the last 47 of those appearances coming with Syracuse after spending his freshman campaign at Notre Dame.

After missing seven games earlier this season due to injury, Syracuse's leading scorer has recorded double figures in eight of his 10 appearances since rejoining the lineup. He is averaging 16.2 points per contest over that span and has reached 20 points on four occasions.

Starling is averaging a team-best 17.6 points per outing on the campaign. His 38 points from the Orange's double-overtime victory against Youngstown State were a career high and the second most by any ACC player in a game this season.

Lampkin Climbs The Ladder
Against Pittsburgh on Jan. 25, Lampkin Jr. became the first Syracuse player to tally 23 rebounds in a game since Derrick Coleman did so against Villanova on March 10, 1990, at the Big East Tournament. Only two Syracuse players have grabbed more rebounds in a single game than Lampkin Jr. – Frank Reddout with 34 versus Temple on Feb. 9, 1952, and Dave Bing with 25 against Cornell on Feb. 8, 1966.

Lampkin's 23-rebound performance is one of the top 10 efforts on the glass in Syracuse history. Additionally, his 15 defensive rebounds versus the Panthers were the sixth most in a single game in Orange history, with the all-time Syracuse record sitting at 16. The 23 rebounds were also the most by any ACC player in a game since Armando Bacot also had 23 for North Carolina against James Madison on Nov. 20, 2022.

Against Duke on Wednesday, Lampkin Jr. hit another career milestone, as he became the second Syracuse player in as many games to surpass 1,000 career points, joining Starling. Lampkin Jr. reached the mark with a layup at the 2:05 mark of the first half. After spending the first four seasons of his career at TCU and Colorado, where he totaled the first 776 points of his career, he has notched 225 this season with the Orange. Lampkin Jr. reached 1,000 points in his 127^th career appearance, the last 23 of which have come with Syracuse.

Lampkin Jr. is averaging 10.6 rebounds over the past 13 contests and has posted a double-double in five of the last nine outings. For the season, Lampkin Jr. is averaging 9.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

Reserve Contributions
Over the last seven games, Syracuse's reserves are averaging 25.6 points. The Syracuse bench has now outscored its opponent's reserves in 17 of the last 18 contests.

Carlos has provided a scoring spark from the bench in Syracuse's two-game California trip, as the guard averaged 12 per contest, highlighted by a 16-point effort versus Stanford where he went 6-of-6 from the field.

The best scoring effort from the Orange bench over the last seven outings came against Louisville, with Syracuse getting 36 points from its bench unit. Half of those points came from Chris Bell, who knocked down four 3-pointers on his way to an 18-point night.

Crashing The Glass
As a team, Syracuse grabs 37.6 rebounds per contest, the fourth most in the ACC. The Orange boast a plus-3.2 margin on the season and have recorded double-digit offensive boards 14 times on the campaign, which included 15 offensive boards against Duke on Wednesday.

Three different Syracuse players have pulled down 10 or more rebounds in a game this season – Lampkin Jr. (11 times), Freeman (seven times) and Davis (one time). Lampkin is third in the conference in rebounding (8.9 per game) and has double-digit boards in nine of the last 12 outings, while Freeman has hit double figures in two of his last three appearances.

Scouting Boston College
The Eagles enter Saturday having lost seven of their last eight contests and are 0-5 in true road games on the season. Donald Hand Jr. is Boston College's leading scorer with 15.7 points per game. Venning (12.8) and Elijah Strong (10.2) also average in double figures. Hand Jr. led the Eagles with 20 points in the first meeting against Syracuse, with Venning and Joshua Beadle both tallying 17 against the Orange.

Hand Jr. also leads the Eagles in 3-point makes (48) and rebounding (6.6 per game). Beadle's 47 assists are a team high, Venning has a team-best 30 blocks and Fred Payne has notched a team-leading 16 steals.

Boston College ranks No. 7 in the ACC in both 3-point percentage (35.8-percent) and blocks per game (3.86).

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.

Freeman, who has missed the past nine games due to injury, has registered six double-doubles on the campaign and is averaging 15.3 points over his last nine appearances. He has scored 15 or more in six games over that stretch.

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 9.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per contest with eight double-doubles.

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

Kyle Cuffe Jr.

Eddie Lampkin Jr.

Naheem McLeod

J.J. Starling

Lucas Taylor

Syracuse University Athletics