Syracuse and St. John's finally get their Madison Square Garden date nailed down

It is not as big a worldwide event as a certain wedding inside the same venue in July, but the return of the St. John's rivalry is big news to Orange fans.

Oct 20, 2025; New York, New York, USA; General exterior view of Madison Square Garden before an NHL game. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While awaiting release Thursday of the 2026-27 NBA schedule, which both set home dates for the defending champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, and the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center, Syracuse basketball fans had to wait to plan specific trips into NYC to catch an Orange hoop game.

Once the NBA, NHL, arena calendar, and current St. John's schedule revealed open dates on November 14-15, and with the 'Cuse currently sporting a nine-day gap between the Indiana neutral court meeting Nov. 9 and the Cornell Dome game on Nov. 18, that second weekend in November was the last piece of the puzzle.

Several sources reported Thursday that the Orange and Red Storm will face off on an NFL Sunday, November 15, at the "World's Most Famous Arena", which was the site of the aforementioned Swift-Kelce nuptials just a month and a half ago.

Two trips to the Big Apple are set, and dreaming of a third trip come March

Even though the 2027 ACC Tournament is being contested in Greensboro, it does not mean that the Orange, with a solid goal of a long-awaited return to the NCAA Tournament, could not end up playing both in Charlotte come March, and again at MSG if Gerry McNamara and staff work their collective influence on this custom-constructed roster.

Both sites are in the expanded NCAA Tourney rotation, Charlotte as a first/second round location along with Pittsburgh closest to CNY geographically, and the Garden hosts the East Regional for the fourth time since 2014.

The meeting with St. John's, which will pit two former assistant coaches under Jim Boeheim in McNamara and Hall of Famer Rick Pitino (45 years between their assistant coaching tenures at SU), will be the first for the 'Cuse since early in Boeheim's final season (2022-23) when the Red Storm (under coach Mike Anderson) beat SU 76-69 in OT in an Empire Classic game at Barclays Center.

Speaking of which, Barclays Center will be the site of Syracuse's other New York trip, with the Orange reportedly set to face Rutgers on Saturday, February 6.

That February date marks a departure from Syracuse's usual post-New Year's Day regular season schedule in which since joining the ACC in 2013-14, the Orange have only faced one non-conference opponent - Georgetown in the Dome on January 9, 2021, after the ACC portion (albeit only one game) had gotten underway.

Syracuse's 2026-27 non-conference schedule (excluding exhibition games-home games in CAPS)

Monday, Nov. 2 - NEW HAVEN

Thursday, Nov. 5 - CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE

Monday, Nov. 9 - Indiana (Indianapolis)

Sunday, Nov. 15 - at St. John's

Wednesday, Nov. 18 - CORNELL

Saturday, Nov. 21 - LAFAYETTE

Wednesday, Nov. 25 - ALBANY

Tuesday, Dec. 1 - at Oklahoma (ACC-SEC Challenge)

Tuesday, Dec. 8 - COLGATE

Saturday, Dec. 12 - MERCYHURST

Wednesday, Dec. 16 - CANISIUS

Saturday, Dec. 19 - Providence (Boston)

Tuesday, Deember 22 - BINGHAMTON

Saturday, February 6 - Rutgers (Brooklyn)

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