SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse basketball (7-4) returns to action following a pair of damaging losses when the Orange host the Arkansas St. Red Wolves (5-6) on Saturday afternoon.
The game tips off just after 2 p.m. at the Carrier Dome and will be televised on the ACC regional sports network (RSN) and the Watch ESPN app.
In Central New York and many New York state markets, viewers will be able to see the game on the YES Network.
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In the Syracuse area, YES is available on these channel numbers:
- Spectrum: 53 (SD)/321 (HD)
- Verizon FiOS: 76 (SD)/ 576 (HD)
- DirecTV: 631 (SD/HD)
- New Visions: 76 (SD)
For other areas and TV systems in the state, you can use the YES Network Channel Finder, available here: http://web.yesnetwork.com/schedule/programs/channel_finder.jsp
In other markets outside New York, the contest will be available on these regional sports networks: AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, FOX Sports Arizona, FOX Sports Detroit PLUS, FOX Sports North, FOX Sports San Diego, FOX Sports South, FOX Sports Wisconsin, NBC Sports Washington PLUS, NESN, Prime Ticket, ROOT Sports, and SportsTime Ohio.
Syracuse enters the Arkansas St. matchup after losing back-to-back non-conference home games for the first time since 1975. The Orange fell to Old Dominion 68-62 last Saturday afternoon and then ignominiously followed that up with a 71-59 defeat to Buffalo on Tuesday night. Both losses were marked by second-half collapses by Syracuse as the Orange couldn’t put the ball in the basket, nor stop the opponent from doing so.
“We should be better offensively this year and we’re not. We’re not getting to the basket the way we need to,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said after the Buffalo loss. “I think we can score points. I think we’re going to be able to but we’re not right now. So we need to really have a couple good weeks, find our offense. If we can, we’ll be alright. If we don’t, we won’t — pretty simple.”
Arkansas St. — located in Jonesboro, Arkansas and a member of the Sun Belt Conference — comes to the Dome a winner of two straight games and three of its last four contests. The Red Wolves beat Missouri State 71-63 Tuesday night at home. Head coach Mike Balado is in his second season at Arkansas St. after going 11-21 in his opening season. He should be quite familiar with the Orange basketball program after spending four seasons as an assistant coach at Louisville from 2013-2017 under the Cardinals’ then-head coach Rick Pitino. Arkansas State’s leading scorer is 6’0 senior guard, Ty Cockfield, II, who scores 21.3 points a game, in the most in the Sun Belt Conference, and shoots 44 percent on his three-point shot attempts.
What’s at stake for Syracuse?
Syracuse has already lost more non-conference games this season, four, than any Orange team that made the NCAA Tournament ever has lost in the Boeheim era.
Syracuse has plummeted to No. 74 in the NET Rankings, the NCAA’s new tool for selecting and seeding tournament teams, from No. 29 before the Old Dominion and Buffalo losses. The Orange are now likely off the bubble and will have to fight their way back in by beating Arkansas St. and St. Bonaventure in their last two non-conference games and then winning a lot of ACC games. If the Orange lose to Arkansas St., which is ranked No. 204 in NET, it’s likely time to turn out the lights on this season — at least in terms of March Madness viability.
Saturday’s game is the first-ever meeting between Syracuse and Arkansas St. However, the Red Wolves have been in the Carrier Dome before, appearing in the 1989 Carrier Classic in which they lost to Temple and beat Virginia Commonwealth.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com
Photos by Adam Rombel/BJNN
