What channel is Syracuse basketball’s NCAA Tournament game on? (vs. Baylor )

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — Syracuse men’s basketball (20-12), No. 8 seed in the West, opens its NCAA Tournament Thursday night with a first-round game against the Baylor Bears (19-13), No. 9 seed.

The game is slated to tip off at 9:57 p.m. at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah and will be televised nationally on truTV. The announcing crew is Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, and Lisa Byington. The channel numbers for truTV in the Syracuse area are as follows:

• Dish Network: 242
• DirecTV: 246
• New Visions: 697
• Spectrum: 52, 91, and 112
• VerizonFIOS: 683

Syracuse will have to take on Baylor without senior point guard Frank Howard. The Syracuse athletics department put out the following statement Wednesday afternoon: “Frank Howard will not play in the NCAA Tournament for an indefinite period of time due to a violation of athletic department policy.”

When meeting with reporters in Salt Lake Wednesday shortly after the statement went out, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said Howard would not play Thursday. The coach wouldn’t say if the guard would be available to play in the second round on Saturday should the Orange win.

The is the third all-time meeting between Syracuse and Baylor with the Orange having won both previous matchups, in the 2006 and 2013 regular seasons.

Baylor is 13-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament while Syracuse has posted a 68-39 record in the event.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com

Photos by Adam Rombel/ BJNN