After an eight-day break, the Syracuse University men's basketball team is finally back in action on Thursday night when they host visiting St. Joseph's at the JMA Wireless Dome.

The game will be played at 9 p.m. ET and will air on ACC Network.

The last time we saw the Orange? They were beating No. 13 Tennessee in the ACC-SEC challenge.

Syracuse enters play at 5-3 overall. They will play all non-conference games from here until New Years Eve, when they take on Clemson at home. Each remaining game of 2025 will be played at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Here's what you need to know about the Orange

• There is still no official word on the health of Donnie Freeman, who has missed four straight games with a right foot issue. He is the leading scorer for the Orange at more than 17 ppg.
• Freshman Kiyan Anthony (11.2 ppg) is the only other Orange player in double-figure scoring.
• William Kyle III is the team's leading rebounder at 7.9 per contest.
• Senior JJ Starling is averaging 9.0 ppg, but he missed nearly three full games with injury. He averaged more than 17 ppg a season ago to lead the team.
• The Orange are defined by their defense, as they have the 21st-best scoring defense in the nation at 64.6 ppg.
• Even despite not playing for more than a week, the Orange are still right at the bottom in free-throw shooting percentage. At 57.3 percent, Syracuse is ranked 360th out of 361 Division-I teams.
• They are tied for 331st in three-point percentage at 29.03 percent. Ironically? They are tied with Siena, who is coached by Gerry McNamara.

About the Hawks

• The Hawks went 22-13 a season ago, and enter play on Thursday at 6-3. However, they are 0-3 on the road.
• St. Joseph's plays in the Atlantic 10, though they have not opened conference play yet.
• They've defeated Temple, and they beat Drexel by 11. The Orange throttled Drexel by 30 earlier this season.
• They were beaten soundly by Virginia Tech, 94-59, and also lost 99-85 to UNLV.
• They average 77.3 ppg and shoot just 28.2 percent from three-point range. They are 81.3 percent from the foul line, which is No. 4 nationally.

Need to know

We will have live coverage at the JMA Wireless Dome. Follow our own Tom Goslowski (@TomGozz) on social media for updates and video coverage.

*Also, stats used are entering this weeks worth of games.

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