Syracuse basketball eyes a 2-0 start to its 2025-26 season when the Orange will host Delaware State on Saturday afternoon at the JMA Wireless Dome.
It will be the first-ever meeting between the non-conference foes. Delaware State, located in Dover, plays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference ("MEAC"). In the 2024-25 campaign, the Hornets went 16-14 overall and 8-6 in conference competition under head coach Sam Waterman, who is in his fifth season guiding Delaware State.
The Hornets, by the way, were set to open their 2025-26 term at Temple on Wednesday evening after I wrote this piece.
How to watch Delaware State at Syracuse basketball.
The Orange and Delaware State will tip off their non-conference contest beginning at 1 pm EST on Saturday, Nov. 8. The ACC Network Extra will provide live streaming coverage of this game.
In the MEAC's preseason poll ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, the Hornets were forecast to finish in a tie for No. 5, along with North Carolina Central, in the eight-team league.
Delaware State was well-represented on the preseason All-MEAC teams. On the first squad is sophomore guard Ponce James. On the second team are graduate student guard Zion Bethea and Camian Shell, another grad student guard.
For the Orange, senior shooting guard J.J. Starling was named to the preseason All-ACC second team, according to the conference's media poll. In the squad's season-opening win at home against Binghamton earlier this week, Starling only played about three minutes due to a lower-body injury.
We don’t know a lot. But we know something. https://t.co/w3dlRUW6kx
— Donna Ditota (@DonnaDitota1) November 5, 2025
On Wednesday, Syracuse.com reported that Starling is "day-to-day" ahead of Saturday's game against Delaware State at the Dome. In his absence this past Monday evening, as the 'Cuse crushed Binghamton 85-47, freshman shooting guard Kiyan Anthony started in the second half. He finished with 15 points in 28 minutes.
As a whole, in the season opener, Syracuse basketball was fabulous on defense, played with high energy and didn't commit many turnovers at all. While the Orange's 3-point shooting wasn't good, nor was its free-throw shooting, the 'Cuse did shoot well from the field as a whole, often succeeding in the mid-range and especially in the interior near - or above - the rim.