Syracuse–UConn rivalry
The Syracuse–UConn rivalry is a sports rivalry between the Syracuse Orange of Syracuse University and the UConn Huskies of the University of Connecticut. The rivalry started in men's basketball while both schools were members of the Big East conference, and is slowly growing across other sports.
History
Men's basketball
The first game played between the two schools took place on January 27, 1956, in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse won 102–82.[1]
The rivalry peaked while both teams were members of the Big East Conference from 1979 to 2013. The rivalry featured two Hall of Fame coaches, Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun. One of the highlights was the historic Big East Tournament quarterfinal game in 2009. The game took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City where Syracuse won 127-117 in a game that went to six overtimes, ending at 1:22 AM.
In November 2015, after the teams met in the Bahamas, both Kevin Ollie and Jim Boeheim expressed interest in renewing the rivalry. Boeheim said, "It was like an NCAA game early in the year, It's a tremendous atmosphere. A tremendous game. It really was. I think there's a reasonable likelihood that we will play Connecticut again someday soon." Ollie said, "It's something that we're definitely looking at, It would be a great thing. It's a great rivalry."[2]
UConn and Syracuse met at the Jimmy V Classic on December 5, 2017.[3]
Football
In 2004 UConn joined the Big East conference as a football member starting an annual meeting with Syracuse. In the schools first meeting at the Carrier Dome in 2004, UConn quarterback Dan Orlovsky completed a school- and Big East-record 39 passes for a school-record 445 yards, in a 42–30 loss.[4] Syracuse would later vacate wins from 2004, 2005, and 2006 for academic misconduct.[5] The 2012 matchup was the schools final meeting as Big East conference members, with Syracuse accepting an invite to the Atlantic Coast Conference and UConn joining the American Athletic Conference. The schools met again in 2016, and 2018 as non conference opponents. Recently the schools announced a four game series starting in 2022.[6]
Coaching connection
Former UConn head coach Randy Edsall and former offensive coordinator Frank Giufre both played football at Syracuse. Paul Pasqualoni served as head coach at Syracuse from 1991–2004, and was the UConn head coach from 2011–2013.[7] While at UConn Pasqualoni hired his former offensive coordinator at Syracuse George DeLeone to work in the same role from 2011–2012.
Women's basketball
In 2016 the UConn and Syracuse women faced off in the NCAA national championship game. UConn won the game 82–51, finishing the season with a record of 38–0 while capturing their fourth straight national championship.[8] The teams would meet again in the Bridgeport regional of the 2017 NCAA tournament with UConn winning 94–64.[9]
Men's basketball
Connecticut victories | Syracuse victories |
|
Football
Connecticut victories | Syracuse victories |
|
Women's basketball
Connecticut victories | Syracuse victories |
|
References
- http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/conn/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/historicalsupplement.pdf
- "Syracuse and UConn discussing upcoming series". syracuse. November 27, 2015.
- "Report: UConn and Syracuse Matched up in 2017 Jimmy V Classic". 3 November 2016.
- "Syracuse 42, Connecticut 30". ESPN. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
- "Syracuse football vacates wins for NCAA violations". ESPN. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
- "Syracuse, UConn schedule four-game football series". fbschedules.com. 7 February 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
- "Paul Pasqualoni Introduced as New Huskies Football Coach". UConn Today. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- "Women's Final Four: Syracuse follows UConn's suit with Final Four blowout". ncaa.com. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
- "Nurse's hits 9 3-pointers to lead UConn over Syracuse 94-64". Associated Press. Retrieved February 6, 2021.