Syracuse women’s basketball: the Orange announce non-conference schedule for 23-24 season

The Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team finalized an 11-game non-conference slate for its 2023-2024 campaign.

Second-year head coach Felisha Legette-Jack and the rest of the Orange will make their season debut versus Lafayette on November 7 at the JMA Wireless Dome. Following its home opener, Syracuse will need to be prepared to face off against a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule that includes Maryland, Northern Iowa, Iowa State, Northeastern and Alabama.

The Orange finished 20-13 (9-9) in 2022-2023 during Legette-Jack’s first season at the helm of the program, and nearly found a way into last year’s NCAA Tournament. Syracuse fell just short in its quest to make the tournament, but settled for a trip to the Round of 16 in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament instead.

Syracuse finished 9-2 versus non-conference opponents last season, going undefeated versus the New York State programs while suffering road losses to Penn State and Purdue.

While the Orange were successful in Legette-Jack’s first season as coach, the program fell short of a tournament bid partly due to a lack of a consistent resume. This time around, Syracuse is giving themselves plenty of bites at the apple in what appears to be a competitive non-conference slate for the upcoming season.

After three-straight home games (Lafayette, Central Connecticut State and Coppin State) to begin the year, the Orange face their first big test of the year - a road game versus the Maryland Terrapins (28-7 last season, 11th in NET ranking). Maryland advanced to the Elite Eight in last season’s NCAA Tournament and has appeared in three-straight Sweet Sixteens.

Syracuse then travels to Las Vegas, Nevada for the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout and will face off in two neutral-site games versus Northern Iowa (23-10, WNIT bid last season) and Iowa State (22-10, fifth-seed in 2023 NCAA Tournament). Syracuse then returns home to battle the Alabama Crimson Tide (20-11, 29th in NET last season) in the new ACC/SEC Challenge as well as Northeastern before rounding out its schedule with one road game versus Ohio and two home games against Cornell and Saint Francis (PA).

The Orange return four starters from last season’s team and are bringing in fresh talent at the depth positions. Legette-Jack and company hope that with some more opportunities to improve their NET ranking from last season (54th overall), Syracuse can clinch its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2020-2021 season.

Here is the complete non-conference schedule for the Orange:

Nov. 7: Lafayette, JMA Wireless Dome

Nov. 10: Central Connecticut State, JMA Wireless Dome

Nov. 15: Coppin State, JMA Wireless Dome

Nov. 19: Maryland, XFINITY Center

Nov. 24: Northern Iowa (South Point Thanksgiving Shootout), South Point Arena (Las Vegas)

Nov. 25: Iowa State (South Point Thanksgiving Shootout), South Point Arena (Las Vegas)

Nov. 30: Alabama (ACC/SEC Challenge) JMA Wireless Dome

Dec. 4: Northeastern, JMA Wireless Dome

Dec. 9: Ohio, Convocation Center

Dec. 18: Cornell, JMA Wireless Dome

Dec. 21: Saint Francis (PA), JMA Wireless Dome