Rodney Hood

February 22, 2014 - 11:18pm
The Orange fell to No. 5 Duke in a controversial ending.

Syracuse was on top of the college basketball world after a 25-0 start to the season and No. 1 ranking. Now the Orange (25-2, 12-2 ACC) are amid a two-game losing streak and facing a drop in the polls after a 66-60 loss at Duke (22-6, 11-4 ACC) Saturday.

A rematch of one of the best games of the year lacked the offensive firepower of the first contest at the Carrier Dome. The Orange shot just 38.7 percent, hitting 24-of-62 field goals. The Blue Devils hit 47.9 percent of their shots, but were relatively quiet from three-point range, hitting 7-of-21 shots from beyond the arc.

February 2, 2014 - 12:34am
C.J. Fair had a career-high 28 points as No. 2 Syracuse found a way to beat No. 17 Duke in front of a record-breaking crowd of 35,446 fans.

At one point during No. 2 Syracuse’s dramatic 91-89 overtime victory over No. 17 Duke Saturday, C.J. Fair looked up at the 35,446 screaming fans, turned to Jerami Grant and said, “This is awesome.”

Tyler Ennis did something similar. Ennis said he stopped for one minute and just looked around to see how many people were actually watching the game.

February 1, 2014 - 4:02pm
Rece Davis, Jalen Rose, Digger Phelps and Jay Bilas pumped up a crowded SU student section eight and a half hours before the Orange take on Duke at 6:30 p.m.

If the Syracuse-Duke game Saturday night is the main course, than ESPN College GameDay was the appetizer. Hundreds fans packed the stands behind the GameDay desk, cheering and screaming with signs and banners, creating one of the loudest and entertaining atmospheres on ESPN's weekly college basketball morning show.

"I don't know how many people there were," Jay Bilas said after the show, "but there were a lot."

January 31, 2014 - 7:50pm
Between Otto and Dome campers sledding down Crouse College and panels at the S.I. Newhouse School, ESPN's College GameDay left its mark on campus the day before the big game.

Although tip-off wasn't for another 30 hours, the hype leading up to the first ever ACC match-up between Syracuse and Duke made its way throughout campus when ESPN's College GameDay came to town.

January 30, 2014 - 10:26pm
The No. 2 Orange host No. 17 Duke Saturday in a match-up of perennial basketball powerhouses.

It’s the game most basketball fans have waited for since Syracuse first announced it was joining the ACC in 2013.

Friend versus friend. Boeheim versus Krzyzewski. Syracuse versus Duke.

Between the coaches, there have been over 1,800 wins, five NCAA Division I National Championships, and two gold medals in the last two summer Olympics.

But on Saturday, the two long-time friends will be on opposite sides of the court for the first time since Duke knocked Syracuse out of the Sweet Sixteen in 1998. The Blue Devils bested the Orange then, 80-67.