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The Syracuse men’s basketball team and St. John’s renewing their men’s basketball rivalry has been a widely discussed topic over the course of the past few months.
New Orange head coach Gerry McNamara mentioned months ago that he wanted to return to Madison Square Garden, and this week, the two teams were announced as playing on Nov. 15 this season.
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As a player, McNamara, helped lead Syracuse to a conference tournament championship in that building during a legendary run in 2006. The Orange entered the tournament as a No. 9 seed and won four games in four days to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The McNamara-led Orange became the first team in Big East tournament history to win four games in four days, and still remain as the lowest seed ever to win the Big East Tournament. (UConn matched the feat in 2011.)
McNamara will hope to recapture some of that matchup when his team takes on St. John’s this season.
Now that the details have been confirmed, Nov. 15 will be the most important game played for McNamara and his team in 2026.
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Here’s why:
The schools had a strong rivalry during their times as members of the Big East Conference, and over the past two years, the Red Storm have rebuilt themselves back up into a solid program, making the NCAA Tournament both years.
Syracuse is hoping to end the school’s longest NCAA Tournament drought ever, as the Orange haven’t made the tournament since 2021.
Two former Syracuse players have joined the St. John’s roster for the upcoming season. Kyle Cuffe is a Harlem, N.Y. native who signed on with Rick Pitino this offseason. Cuffe spent two seasons in Central New York, logging a total of 59 games. Under then-head coach Adrian Autry, Cuffe averaged 4.2 points per game.
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Donnie Freeman is the other former Orange player on the Red Storm roster. Freeman, who was the best player on the Orange for the last two seasons, is unlikely to play in 2026-27 after suffering an injury earlier this year.
The Red…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/syracuse-basketball-why-nov-15-001143919.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-05 00:11:00
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