Searching for some consistency with Selection Sunday just three weeks away, Syracuse welcomes improving Notre Dame to New York on Saturday in Atlantic Coast Conference action.
The Orange (17-10, 8-8 ACC) likely need to string together a handful of wins down the stretch in order to squeeze into the NCAA Tournament. They have alternated losses and wins in their last six games and have only one winning streak (a two-gamer) since the calendar flipped over to 2024.
In their most recent game, Chris Bell scored 26 points -- all in the first half -- and Quadir Copeland chipped in a career-high 25 in Tuesday's 87-83 victory over North Carolina State.
"Chris Bell was unconscious," coach Adrian Autry said. "He kept us in the game in the first half."
The second half wasn't as pretty, but the Orange held on in the waning minutes to remain on the periphery of the Big Dance discussion.
"When we lose, our fans (say) it's over, everything is over," Autry joked. "With this team right here, they don't buy into that. They come back and battle."
Meanwhile, Notre Dame (10-16, 5-10) has shown signs of life lately with three wins in a row following a stretch of nine defeats in 10 games.
Most recently, the Fighting Irish went on the road Wednesday and topped Louisville 72-50 behind Braeden Shrewsberry's 23 points (including a career-high seven 3-pointers).
Shrewsberry, the son of first-year Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry, felt good about his bounce-back effort that followed a 1-for-11 shooting performance in a Feb. 14 win against Georgia Tech.
"There's a lot of pressure from the fans, from everybody," said Braeden Shrewsberry. "People are going to say a lot of stuff about you, but you've just got to tune it out and focus on the stuff that matters and winning."
Syracuse defeated Notre Dame in both meetings last season by a total of six points. This is the only matchup between the teams this season.
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