February is about here, which means the tough stuff starts for Notre Dame basketball.
Make that the tougher stuff.
Noie: This one was going to end differently for Notre Dame basketball, right?
Advertisement
Coming within a possession here or there from beating a ranked team on your home court doesn’t matter. Having lost league road games the last three times out doesn’t matter. Needing something good to go right for them doesn’t matter. Notre Dame must go and try it all again away from home for three of the next four Atlantic Coast Conference games.
Football First: Why a Notre Dame football player left the Notre Dame basketball team
That’s life in the ACC. That’s life in major college basketball.
Notre Dame basketball (11-10 overall; 2-6 ACC)versus Syracuse (12-9; 3-5)
-
Date: Saturday, January 31
Advertisement
-
Site: JMA Wireless Dome (33,000), Syracuse, New York
What channel is Notre Dame basketball versus Syracuse on?
-
TV: The CW (check local cable listings)
-
Radio: 960 WSBT-AM in South Bend. Also on SiriusXM on ACC Radio and channels 955 and 956. You can also listen live free on Audacy.
Series history between Notre Dame basketball and Syracuse
Syracuse leads 35-24 overall, 18-11 in Central New York, and 1-5 as ACC colleagues. The Orange have won six of the last eight, dating back to 2020.
The teams split as repeat opponents last season. Notre Dame won 69-64 on December 7, 2024. Syracuse won, 77-69, on January 18, 2025, in a game the Irish led for nearly 35 minutes. This is the only scheduled game this season.
Notre Dame basketball versus Syracuse storylines
∎ Memories of a game many Notre Dame fans forgot or failed to recall might still sting for Irish basketball. That would be the 77-69 loss at Syracuse last season. The Irish led by as many as 17 in the first half, then allowed 44 points in the second half. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry was “ejected” after receiving two technicals with no time remaining.
Advertisement
Why do so few Irish fans remember this one? It unfolded in Central New York on January 18, 2025, barely 48 hours before the Notre Dame football team played for a national championship.
∎ The Irish have lost three straight league road games, the last two by double figures (average of 17.5 points). Notre Dame is due for one of those how-did-they-do-that ACC road wins.
∎ Syracuse will honor former guard Lawrence Moten during this game. It’s hard enough to win in that building under normal circumstances. To do it when one of the opponent’s greats is recognized? Good luck.
Keep an eye on …
Notre Dame G Cole Certa
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound kid from Le Roy, Illinois, came of age earlier in the week against Virginia when he scored a career-high 34 points. It wasn’t that the sophomore scored so many points. It was that he was willing to go and score those points. He hunted his shot. He took a career high 19 shots, including a career high 13 from 3. He was looking to drive it, even looking for contact, looking to get fouled. Almost wanting to get fouled where he shoots a staggering .937 percent (59-of-63) from the free throw line. And, about those 63 free throws? Certa attempted all of 12 last season. Twelve. There’s growth right there.
Advertisement
The next step for Certa (10.3 ppg., 1.5 rpg., 0.6 apg., 22.5 mpg.) is to bottle that kind of shot-making/scoring swagger and take it on the road and do it again for a second straight game. If you can do it in the Dome, you can do it anywhere. He was one Irish who took a step forward in a loss. A few more steps await.
Syracuse F Donnie Freeman
Anyone who stands as tall as the sophomore Freeman, 6-9, 205 pounds, stands in the way of Notre Dame feeling confident that it can compete at the level needed to compete around the rim and in the post.
Talented, athletic bigs who can score and rebound have been a league-long problem for the vertically challenged Irish. Against Virginia, all three of Notre Dame’s “bigs” (Brady Koehler, Garrett Sundra, Carson Towt) fouled out at various times in the double-overtime loss. It reached a point where the Irish had to turn to guard Logan Imes to play post defense.
Advertisement
A former classmate of Irish guard Cole Certa at IMG, Freeman leads the Orange in scoring (19.2 ppg.) and minutes (30.8) and second in rebounding (7.4). He’s shooting .510 percent from the field, .341 percent from 3 and .813 percent from the foul line.
Freeman has done all that work despite missing nine games with lingering right foot/leg issues that shelved him for stretches last season. He’s played like he’s trying to make up for all that lost time.
Notre Dame basketball 2025-26 schedule
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
Advertisement
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Back out on the Atlantic Coast Conference road for Notre Dame basketball
