Syracuse basketball hits the road for its next two league affairs, traveling to the west coast to play two new Atlantic Coast Conference members.
For the 2024-25 season, the ACC grew to 18 schools in college basketball with the additions of California, SMU and Stanford.
Next up for the Orange, which has lost two straight, is a battle at Stanford, followed by a date with California this coming weekend.
To date in 2024-25, the Cardinal has proven one of the conference's biggest surprises, and in a good way. Stanford (14-6, 6-3 in the ACC) was forecast to finish at No. 17 in the ACC, per the conference's preseason media poll, yet the Cardinal currently finds itself firmly inside the top eight of the league race.
How to watch Syracuse basketball at Stanford on Wednesday evening.
The Cardinal will host the Orange (9-11, 3-6 in the ACC) on Wednesday, Jan. 29, with the tip-off scheduled for 11 pm EST inside Maples Pavilion. I have no idea how I'll stay awake for this entire conference clash. All kidding aside, this ACC collision will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU, with live-streaming coverage also available on FuboTV.
Most recently, the 'Cuse has fallen on the road to Clemson and then, this past Saturday afternoon, Syracuse basketball hung tough with long-time rival Pittsburgh but ultimately lost by four points at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Injured freshman power forward Donnie Freeman has now missed six consecutive contests, and I'm feeling less and less optimistic that he's going to return to the court any time soon.
Stanford, meanwhile, has won three in a row and five of its last six encounters. In 2024-25, the Cardinal has beaten Denver, Cal State Fullerton, Northern Arizona, UC Davis, Norfolk State, Santa Clara, Utah Valley, California, Merrimack, Virginia Tech, Virginia, North Carolina, Miami and Florida State.
On the flip side, the Cardinal has fallen to Grand Canyon, Cal Poly, Oregon, Clemson, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest.
At the time of this writing, Syracuse basketball had an NCAA NET ranking of No. 147 overall, as compared to No. 69 for Stanford, making this a quadrant-one opportunity for the Orange, which is 0-7 so far in such games this term.
The programs have only met once before, as far as I can tell, and it was a 69-63 victory for Syracuse basketball in late November of 2011 at a neutral site in New York City.
You can check out a variety of statistical categories for the Orange and the Cardinal via ESPN's Web site. The 'Cuse defense, which has struggled a lot in 2024-25, will have to hone in on Stanford senior forward Maxime Raynaud, who is in the running for the league's player of the year award and a spot on the All-ACC first team.
The 7-foot-1, 245-pound Raynaud is among the conference's top scorers and rebounders, averaging 20.5 points, 11.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while making 49.2 percent from the field, 35.6 percent from beyond the arc and 75.6 percent from the free-throw line.