Syracuse women’s basketball vs. Michigan: TV/streaming, time, history & more

Teams: Syracuse Orange (4-3, 0-0) vs. No. 24 Michigan Wolverines (6-1, 0-0)

Date and Time: Thursday, December 5, at 9 p.m. ET.

Location: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Mich.

TV Network: ESPN (!!!!)

Radio: Cuse.com or 97.7FM Local radio.

Michigan Blog: Maizenbrew.com

Rivalry: 4-0, Michigan

First Meeting: The Orange women just missed a big win at Michigan back in 1982, falling by the narrow score of 83-81.

Last Meeting: Michigan would beat Syracuse 78-52 in Ann Arbor during the WNIT on March 28, 2010.

Head Coaches: Syracuse - Quentin Hillsman (14th year, 292-148 at SU). Michigan - Kim Barnes Arico (8th season, 161-86 at UM)

Coach Bio: Kim Barnes Arico has been the head coach at the University of Michigan since 2012 and has led the Wolverines the second round of the NCAA tournament in each of the last two seasons. In 2017, she led Michigan to a WNIT Championship. She was the head coach for St. John’s from 2002-2012 so she is quite familiar with the Orange. While she was the head coach for the Red Storm, she led the school to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in her final year before taking over the reigns of Ann Arbor. She played college ball at Stony Brook and Montclair State.

Last Year: A year ago the Wolverines finished 22-12 and were bounced in the second round of the NCAA tournament by Louisville. They lost their matchup with NC State in the B1G/ACC Challenge last year, 66-55.

“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Naz Hillmon is the Michigan leading scorer at 15.4 ppg. The 6-2 Sophomore form Cleveland, Ohio is putting together a fantastic year so far, and is an absolute force in the paint. The reigning Big 10 freshman of the year will pose problems for the Syracuse bigs as she’s averaging 9.1 rebounds a game.

If Syracuse wins: Huge win over a top 25 team and we get back in the winning way. A win here after a disappointing trip to Canada would be huge for the teams confidence going into the rest of December.

If Syracuse Loses: Yikes. Syracuse men’s and women’s will each lose three games in a row for the first time since who knows. Orange fans would love if this did not happen.

Fun Fact: Michigan guard Danielle Rauch is a graduate of Bishop Ludden in Syracuse, where she won so many awards it’s hard to list them all. Rauch is also a childhood friend of mine, and when playing basketball in our neighborhood, she was by far the best player on the court. I’m sure nothing has changed.