Syracuse basketball announces its fourth non-conference game of the 2026-27 season

The Orange will face Northeast Conference member Central Connecticut State in November's first week of the upcoming season.

Dec 17, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; General view of the JMA Wireless Dome prior to the game between the Mercyhurst Lakers and the Syracuse Orange. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While fellow ACC conference member Wake Forest, for example, has been able to release its entire 14 game non-conference schedule, for many different reasons, mostly logistical, and some out of the school's control, it is going to take Syracuse a little longer to accomplish the same feat.

Cuse athletics on Tuesday did announce the fourth non-ACC, early season game versus Central Connecticut State, a contest that will take place in the Dome on Thursday, November 5.

Either one or two games under the team's belt before facing Indiana

The game against Central Connecticut, 18-12, 12-6 last season under sixth-year head coach and school alum Patrick Sellers, occurs the first week of the upcoming season, which is designated to tip-off with games starting three days prior - Monday, Nov. 2.

If Syracuse can schedule a game for that first date (UAlbany?), followed by the second all-time meeting against CCSU (a 96-62 Orange win in the Dome in Dec. 2012), that will be two early games for Gerry McNamara's squad before his first high-profile matchup against the Big Ten's Indiana the following Monday, November 9, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

That would be quite a busy first week of the upcoming season, and it will be interesting to see if SU can schedule a home game on November 14 (football team at N.C. State), and sometime the following week, before a reported home game against Lafayette on Saturday, November 21 (football team at Boston College).

The two other officially announced non-league games are the road matchup in Norman against Oklahoma December 1 in the ACC-SEC Challenge game televised on one of the ESPN networks, and the neutral court meeting against one-time Big East foe Providence.

The meeting against the Friars will be played at TD Garden in Boston on Saturday, December 19 and televised on TNT.

Contract finalizations and nailing down dates in popular places

As alluded to at the top with the problems that Syracuse and Rutgers are having to nail down a date and time to renew their former Eastern Independent and Big East days of playing almost annually, because Barclays Center is busy in November and December.

If indeed it does end up that the teams face-off sometime in February, we like that idea, and hope that it could become an annual staple of the SU schedule under G-Mac.

A concept that has the Orange venturing outside the ACC later in the season, as a more developed team as the campaign has progressed, facing a quality opponent either home/away/neutral court.

With the NHL (July 16) and NBA (expected August 13 or14) still to release their respective complete 2026-27 schedules and other Madison Square Garden events, it is still to be determined when the Orange will face off against St. John's, but they are trying to find a December date.

Even counting Cornell and Colgate to the slate, as hinted by McNamara his wish for the fellow upstate New York programs to be annual opponents, it would still leave four non-conference games the 'Cuse needs to schedule to reach the 14 game maximum.

SUPPORT THE JUICE ONLINE

Follow us on Twitter @TheJuiceOnline, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram @SUJuiceOnline and listen to our podcast.