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To state the obvious, the Adrian Autry era is on life support. The last time Syracuse lost four straight games was 2022-23, Jim Boeheim’s final year before his retirement. Time will tell if SU’s 20-point road loss to NC State Tuesday is one of the nails in the coffin for Autry after this season, but for now, he’s still got a chance to rewrite his immense wrongs.

Searching to avoid their fifth consecutive defeat, the Orange will battle Micah Shrewsberry’s Notre Dame squad — which is in a five-way tie for last-place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Fighting Irish rank No. 79 on KenPom, just below SU at 77, making it a clear-cut opportunity for Autry’s squad to break the skid.

Here’s everything to know before Syracuse (12-9, 3-5 ACC) hosts Notre Dame (11-10, 2-6 ACC) Saturday night in the JMA Wireless Dome:

All-time series

SU leads 35-23.

Last time they played …

Last year on Jan. 18, the Orange bested the Fighting Irish at home 77-69, led by 20 points from J.J. Starling. The win improved Syracuse to 9-9 overall and 3-4 in conference play, well before its complete capitulation en route to a 14-19 season.

Part of how SU defeated Notre Dame last time was its charity stripe success. The Orange made 21 free throws on 34 attempts, carried by Kyle Cuffe Jr.’s 10-for-10 mark at the line.

KenPom Odds

Syracuse has a 62% chance of winning, with a projected score of 73-70.

The Fighting Irish report

For starters, referees might have to keep their distance from Shrewsberry on Saturday.

Kidding aside, the third-year ND head coach’s team is in a similar spot to Autry’s. The Fighting Irish are in danger of missing a fourth straight NCAA Tournament under Shrewsberry, as are the Orange with Autry.

Notre Dame plays extremely slow, ranking 301st in the nation with a 65.0 adjusted tempo, per KenPom. Its offense coughs the ball up a fair amount, holding a 17.2% turnover percentage, but its 35.5% 3-point clip (90th in the country) is a step above Syracuse’s 33.3% rate.

The Fighting Irish have been without star guard Markus Burton for quite awhile due to an ankle injury. Their most recent rough stretch, losing six of their last seven, has crippled their March Madness odds. They don’t have an effective No. 1 scorer behind Burton; without him, they’re led by Shrewsberry’s son, Braeden, who averages 11.5 points per game on 41.5% shooting.

Notre Dame big man Carson Towt has grabbed 9.6 boards a contest, though, a potential threat on the glass for SU’s William Kyle III and Donnie Freeman.

How Syracuse beats Notre Dame

It needs to get it together on defense. The Orange have allowed at least 72 points in every game since the calendar flipped to 2026. Over their first 14 games, they held opponents to scoring totals fewer than that figure 10 times. But the 2-3 zone that Autry’s implemented since entering the ACC slate has been exposed repeatedly.

Saturday is a chance for Syracuse to strap in, play man-to-man and beat Notre Dame like the superior program it’s supposed to be. The Fighting Irish are not a high-quality offense and struggle to score inside the 3-point arc — ND scores just 46.9% of its points on 2-pointers, ranking 243rd in the country. Kyle and Freeman bring SU an advantage in the paint, which it needs to snag what would be a crucial ACC victory.

Stat to know: 80

The Orange are the No. 80 overall program in the NCAA’s NET Rankings, the leading indicator for how the eventual NCAA Tournament field will be decided.

That’s 12 spots below the 68-team threshold to carve out a spot in March.

Even worse for Syracuse, it’s more than likely its chances of securing an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament have already vanquished. JBR Bracketology posted a GIF of the grim reaper on X, with the caption that SU has no chance of making the tournament as an at-large team. It’s just a projection, but it’s certainly where the Orange are headed if things don’t change.

Player to watch: J.J. Starling, guard, No. 2

The former Notre Dame guard is facing his old team again Saturday, and the Orange need him to replicate how he played in the second half the other night. Starling, who’s struggled this season with 11.5 points per game — a far cry from his 17.8 average in 2024-25 — dropped 12 second-half points versus NC State, one of SU’s few bright spots of a dreadful last 20 minutes.

Starling is due for a big game. With ND needing to focus on stopping Freeman, this is a solid opportunity for the senior guard to take over.

Published on January 30, 2026 at 12:08 am
Contact Cooper: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews