Just before the weekend began, the Syracuse Orange women's basketball team dropped some news with the program announcing the full non-conference schedule for the upcoming season.
Syracuse's 2024-25 starts off with an exhibition game in the JMA Wireless Dome on Oct. 29 versus Daemen. The Orange's first game which counts toward the standings will be a home matchup versus Niagara on Nov. 5.
Other home games on the Orange's non-con slate include St. Joseph's (Nov. 10), Maryland (Nov. 13), Fairleigh Dickinson (Nov. 17), Albany (Nov. 20), Yale (Dec. 1) and Dartmouth (Dec. 21).
Away from the Dome, Syracuse has two neutral-site games: one against Missouri and the other versus either Creighton or Wichita State as part of the inaugural Emerald Coast Classic Tournament (Niceville, FL). Syracuse's two true road games -- Dec. 4 versus Texas A&M for this year's ACC/SEC Challenge and Dec. 18 versus Binghamton.
It is also confirmed Syracuse's first ACC game will be on December 8 in the Dome, with the opponent still to be determined according to the program.
The strong start via dominating performances versus non-con opponents was crucial to Syracuse's successful season in 2023-24. Last year, the Orange finished 10-1 versus non-con teams. Notably, Syracuse secured two resume-building wins over Alabama and Iowa State, and the lone loss was by two points to a then-ranked Maryland program on the road.
This time around, Syracuse will see another home-heavy slate with some pretty fun matchups scattered throughout. Among them include a rematch versus Maryland and a sneaky-interesting home game against Yale (who Syracuse barely lost to in year one of coach Felisha Legette-Jack's tenure). On the flip side, the road slate is certainly a bear with those games against Power 4 teams.
In addition to the 11 non-con games, Syracuse is also lined up to face 18 conference games in the new-look ACC that now includes Cal, Stanford and SMU. Dates for each of those games also remain to be determined.
This week, we'll have a follow-up piece up providing a deeper look at the Orange's non-con schedule next year. The announcement does mean we are officially five weeks away from hoops returning in the 315.
Here is an updated look at the Orange's 2024-25 schedule, now including the full non-con slate: