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For the first time in over a year, Syracuse women’s basketball is on a losing streak. The Orange dropped back-to-back Quad 1 games against NC State and Notre Dame, preventing them from claiming an elusive second Quad 1 victory before the postseason.

The Orange go from that difficult stretch to an easier matchup to end the regular season Sunday. Syracuse hosts Boston College, comfortably one of the worst teams in Power Five basketball. SU is looking to get back in the win column and boost its standing before the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament begins Tuesday. A win over the Eagles could be the difference between the No. 5 and No. 6 seed.

Here’s everything to know about Boston College (5-25, 1-16 ACC) before it travels to Syracuse (21-7, 11-6 ACC) Sunday for the final time this regular season:

All-time series

Syracuse leads 41-28.

Last time they played

Just three weeks ago, Syracuse destroyed Boston College 93-59 at Conte Forum. The Orange led for about 38 minutes, cruising to a blowout victory and their ninth ACC win of the campaign.

Dominique Darius ran the show for SU offensively, tallying her first-career double-double with 10 points and 10 assists. Uche Izoje dominated the paint against an undersized Eagles frontcourt, tacking on a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds. Maddy Potts contributed 12 points off the bench on four 3-pointers as well.

It was a stark difference from the last time the Orange played at Conte Forum, when they were embarrassed by 41 points the season prior. Although this year’s BC team is worse than last year’s, Syracuse still showed it meant business when they squared off in February.

The Eagles report

Not much has changed for Boston College since it last faced the Orange. The biggest news is that the Eagles finally captured their first conference win — against SMU on Feb. 19 — which snapped a 20-game losing streak. Otherwise, the season’s been pitiful.

BC’s lost 25 games already this year — including 16 in the ACC — the most in a single season in program history. The Eagles have lost those 25 contests by an average of 19 points, including whopping 51-point defeats to UNC and Duke in a four-day span.

Boston College’s only scorer averaging over 10 points per game is sophomore guard Lily Carmody, who’s tallying 12.8. Aside from her, the Eagles have four players averaging over seven points, but still haven’t found the offensive consistency to contend with really any good Power Five squad.

The Eagles are also horrendous inside, something Syracuse exploited well in the January win with 42 points in the paint. BC is shooting just 40.8% inside the arc and averages just 32.3 total rebounds per game, a bottom-25 mark in Division I.

How Syracuse beats Boston College

Yes, Syracuse enters this game in its longest rut of the season, but there shouldn’t be any world where SU has lost enough momentum to lose this game. BC simply doesn’t come close to the Orange in terms of talent.

That aforementioned disparity in the paint will be Syracuse’s key to winning Sunday. The Eagles have already shown they can’t contain Izoje or contend on the glass. They were outrebounded 50-22, and Izoje sprang for a near double-double in just 22 minutes last time they met.

So, for Syracuse, just continue to feed Izoje and crash the glass. The freshman is bound to get going offensively against a team that can’t seem to stop a parked car down low.

The only way BC might hang around is if the 3s fall early and often. The Eagles take 23.6 3-pointers per game, the 59th-most of all 363 Division I teams. They aren’t too efficient on those attempts, making just 30.2% of them. But if the shots start finding the net early, BC could sprint out to a quick lead and have a chance at an upset.

The reality, though, is that Syracuse shouldn’t have too much trouble putting the Eagles away.

Stat to know: 56.2

No number personifies Boston College’s paint struggles like its opponent’s 2-point field goal percentage. The Eagles are currently allowing the highest mark in the nation at 56.2%. Against Izoje and the Orange, who are taking the fourth-most 2-point attempts per game in the country with 49.7, that doesn’t bode well.

The issue isn’t exclusive to the paint, though it’s most apparent there. When these two teams squared off in January, Boston College sat 361st of 363 D-I squads with a pitiful 47.8% opponent overall field-goal percentage, and that number’s only ballooned to 48.3% in the three weeks since. It’s a part of the reason why the Eagles allow 76.4 points per game, a bottom-15 mark in the country.

There are a plethora of numbers to display it, but the bottom line is just how poor BC’s defense has been this year. Syracuse should have no problem exploiting it again Sunday.

Player to watch: Uche Izoje, center, No. 44

Izoje’s freshman season has been nothing short of transcendent. After Syracuse’s season-opening win over Stony Brook in November, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack compared her to generational talents like Hannah Hidalgo and Paige Bueckers.

At the time, it seemed outlandish. Izoje had been in the United States for a few months at that point. But, as her first regular season comes to a close, it doesn’t seem far off. And she can stamp a stellar freshman campaign with another good performance against one of the conference’s worst defenses Sunday.

Izoje should feast against the Eagles’ frontcourt. The only thing that might prevent her from exploding for another 20-point double-double would be getting pulled early so she can rest before the conference tournament.

Either way, keep an eye out for No. 44 as she looks to close her first regular season strong.

Published on February 28, 2026 at 3:19 pm
Contact Harris: harrispemberton@gmail.com | @HarrisPemb6