SU Falls Just Short Of UK In Race For Home Attendance Crown

The Syracuse basketball team was in a heated battle for the No. 1 ranking. Not for March Madness, but for the home attendance crown.

Syracuse fans in Central New York (and perhaps throughout the country) couldn’t quite propel their basketball squad to first place in the home-attendance battle, despite the per-game average at the Carrier Dome increasing from the prior year, according to a Syracuse.com report.

For the 2016-17 regular season, which concluded over the weekend, Kentucky took the top spot, seeing an average of 23,462 for its 17 home games, according to Syracuse.com. The Wildcats (26-5, 16-2 in SEC play) are currently ranked No. 8 in the latest AP Poll.

The Orange (18-13, 10-8 in ACC competition), meanwhile, had an average of 23,142 for its 19 home contests, says the Syracuse.com report. SU sported a nifty 16-3 mark in Central New York, and more than 30,000 ‘Cuse faithful packed the Carrier Dome this past Saturday afternoon to witness Syracuse put a 90-61 beat-down on Georgia Tech.

It’s the second term in a row that Kentucky has outpaced Syracuse. According to statistics

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available on the NCAA’s official Web site, in the 2015-16 stanza, the Wildcats and the Orange each played 17 home tilts, with UK averaging 23,361 and SU coming in at 21,592.

So the ‘Cuse, which garnered a 19-12 record that year before the post-season commenced, did boost its per-game average to 23,142 from 21,592 over the past two seasons, according to NCAA.com, but it didn’t prove enough to overtake Kentucky.

In the 2014-15 and 2013-14 campaigns, however, Syracuse did capture the home-attendance trophy.

For 2014-15, the Orange possessed 18 home match-ups and averaged 23,854, says NCAA.com. Ironically, SU finished a disappointing 18-13 that year and issued a self-imposed post-season ban. Kentucky, on the other hand, had 19 home clashes and averaged 23,572, according to NCAA.com. Oh, and the Wildcats went unbeaten until the Final Four, when they suffered a somewhat surprising setback to Wisconsin.

The 2013-14 stretch represented the ‘Cuse’s debut in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Syracuse raced out to a historic 25-0 start and a No. 1 national ranking before melting down and ending the year with a 28-6 mark. The Orange owned 18 home battles and averaged 26,253, which is a monster number. UK also had 18 home games, averaging 22,964.

According to Syracuse.com, Kentucky’s home venue, Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., can hold up to 23,500 fans. The Carrier Dome, when SU squared off with Duke in February of 2014 and 2015, set the Division I record for the largest on-campus crowd to watch a college-basketball affair, at 35,446.

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We all love to finish first, but it’s still pretty darn impressive to go toe-to-toe with Big Blue Nation year after year!

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