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

Teams: Syracuse Orange (5-4, 0-1) vs. Cornell Big Red (4-5, 0-0)

Day & Time: Wednesday, December 8, 7 p.m. ET

Location: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.

TV/Streaming: ACC Network Extra

Radio: Cuse.com, ESPN 97.7

Rivalry: Syracuse, 9-1

Current Streak: Syracuse, 4

First Meeting: The Orange and the Big Red met for the first time in January 1978. Syracuse rolled to a 99-44 thrashing of Cornell at home.

Last Meeting: It was surprising to see that these teams have only played 10 times ahead of this game. Their last meeting came in late December 2014, with the Orange scoring a 76-59 win at the Dome. The Big Red led 34-32 at the half, but Syracuse overcame a 5-of-23 performance from the floor by its star Brianna Butler and outscored Cornell by 19 in the second half.

Head Coaches: Syracuse - Vonn Read (1st year, 5-4) | Cornell - Dayna Smith (19th year, 202-298)

Coach Bio: Smith has had the head job in Ithaca since 2002. She played her college ball at Rhode Island, where she became one of the program’s most decorated players. She racked up over 1,000 career points and 750 assists and graduated as the program’s all-time three-point shooting percentage leader.

She served as an assistant at URI from 1996-99 before moving to Penn for three more seasons as an assistant. From there, it was off to the head job in Ithaca. Smith led her team to the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and is the second-longest tenured coach in the Ivy League.

Last Year: In 2020-21, the Big Red missed out on the season because of the Ivy League’s decision not to play in the winter. In 2019-20, Cornell finished 10-16 with a 3-11 conference record.

“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: The Big Red don’t shoot the three-ball very well, which means they’re going to try to operate in the post. Theresa Grace Mbanefo leads the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game and shoots 51 percent from the floor. We’ll see how she fares down low against Alaysia Styles and company.

If Syracuse Wins: It’s a four game winning streak and it’s pretty clear that this team starting to develop legitimate chemistry before ACC play kicks into gear.

If Syracuse Loses: You’re telling me Syracuse isn’t the Harvard of Central New York??

Fun Fact: Syracuse didn’t play Cornell for seven years after the Big Red won in Ithaca in 2003. The Orange eventually bucked up and started scheduling Cornell again, even going back to Ithaca in 2012. It would be nice to see the Orange play some more road games against in-state foes (take note Boeheim!).