Over the last several weeks, the Syracuse men's basketball schedule for 2026-27 has started to trickle out some slow leaks.

We recently learned that the Orange are going to play UAlbany in the non-conference portion of the schedule, and we also learned that they are likely to visit Albany for a preseason matchup with Siena. 

We've heard that the Orange don't want to play exhibition games at home, and new head coach Gerry McNamara intimated that he wanted his team to play at Madison Square Garden next season.

Well, that looks like it's set to become a reality, with Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reporting that the Orange are finalizing a game with St. John's at the historic venue.

No formal announcement has been made, but it's the re-upping of a former Big East rivalry, something Syracuse is also doing with Providence.

St. John's won the Big East regular season championship this past season and figures to be very strong again next season, especially after adding Donnie Freeman from Syracuse in the transfer portal.

While the idea of playing against Freeman will bring about a lot of headlines in the build up to the contest, this game is important in that it gives the Orange another opportunity for a strong victory, which will aid any NCAA Tournament hopes that the they have.

Per our own Tom Goslowski, who has written about Syracuse and it's connection with MSG:

A trip to Madison Square Garden was a yearly tradition for some Orange fans from 1983-2013. The Garden hosted the annual Big East Conference championship tournament each March.

The Orange left the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) entering the 2013-14 season. Syracuse has played non-conference tilts in Madison Square Garden since leaving the Big East, with the most recent matchup in 2021 - a loss to Villanova. 

The current head coach of the Orange has a connected history with Madison Square Garden as a player.

In 2006, McNamara helped lead Syracuse to a Big East tournament championship. The Orange entered the tournament as a No. 9 seed and won four games in four consecutive days to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The McNamara-led Orange became the first team in Big East tournament history to win four games in four days, and still remain as the lowest seed ever to win the Big East Tournament. (UConn matched the feat in 2011.)

McNamara's performances and Jim Boeheim's postgame press conference comments are still remembered fondly by Orange fans 20 years later.

In addition to Albany, Providence and St. John's, we also know that Syracuse is set to play Indiana in 2026-27. That's a rematch of the 1987 national title game, which was won by the Hoosiers on the famous Keith Smart shot at the buzzer.

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