What to Know About Syracuse Hoops’s Matchup with Rutgers in 2027

On Monday, the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball program announced the resumption of a former Big East rivalry: They’ll play Rutgers on Feb. 6, 2027 at the Barclays Center.

We have known about the meeting for a while now, but we did not know about the date, which is very interesting. The contest will happen right in the middle of Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play, leaving new head coach Gerry McNamara with some interesting decisions.

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How does he handle this matchup? Does he treat it with less importance because it’s not a league game, and it’s in between big matchups against Virginia and Clemson?

Or, does he treat it with more importance because it’s a winnable game within the confines of a difficult league schedule? Would a win against Rutgers help improve NCAA Tournament odds for the Orange in any way?

These are all things that McNamara will have to wrestle with.

All-time series record: Syracuse leads 39-10 in 49 previous matchups

Last matchup: Rutgers won 79-69 in 2020, but Syracuse had won 13 straight matchups before that.

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No. 16: Syracuse has played Rutgers the 16th-most times of any opponent since the 1949-50 season (39 times)

They have only played Pitt, UConn, Georgetown, Boston College, St. John’s, Colgate, Cornell, Villanova, Penn State, Canisius, Niagara, Providence, Notre Dame and West Virginia more.

Rutgers has been out of the Big East since 2012-13, having spent one year (2013-14) in the AAC and 12 years in the Big Ten (2014-26) since. The Scarlet Knights went just 14-20 last season and have three straight losing seasons under their belt.

They haven’t had a winning season since 2022-23 (19-15) and haven’t had a winning season in the Big Ten (12-8) since 2021-22. They haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since that year either.

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It’s unclear who exactly will be coaching Rutgers when this matchup takes place. Head coach Steve Pikiell has been diagnosed with cancer, but he is determined to beat it and to be around his team as much as…

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Publish date : 2026-09-22 19:12:00

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