Syracuse and St. John’s will play a home-and-home series that will span the next two seasons, the schools announced in a press release Wednesday.

The first game will be at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 14, 2013, then the Red Storm will play at the Carrier Dome in 2014. Syracuse and St. John’s have a long-standing Big East rivalry, but that was in threat of coming to an end with the Orange moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference in July.

Syracuse Athletic Director Daryl Gross said in a statement it was important to continue the history that Syracuse and SJU share.

“There are traditional series that are very important to us that go beyond conference affiliations,” Gross said. “One of those is St John’s, which has an obvious place in Syracuse basketball history. As we continue to aggressively secure rivalries that are dear to us, we are pleased to announce the continuation of this great series between two outstanding universities.”

Both schools are founding members of the Big East. They’ll play for the first time this season Feb. 10 in the Dome.

Syracuse and St. John’s first played in 1912, and have played 86 times since then. SU head coach Jim Boeheim said in a statement the Orange and Red Storm have a deep-rooted history.

“The rivalry with St. John’s has been one of the strongest for our program,” Boeheim said. “We had some great games when I was in school and the series continued to grow with Coach Carnesecca at St. John’s right up to today with Coach (Steve) Lavin.”

Lavin, the Red Storm’s second-year head coach, echoed Boeheim’s sentiments.

“St. John’s and Syracuse are two of the storied programs in NCAA history, both with top 10 numbers in overall victories and winning percentage,” Lavin said. “The Johnnies and ‘Cuse rivalry is now more than a century old and deserves to continue.”

With Syracuse moving to the ACC, its future playing at Madison Square Garden was uncertain. The Orange has made MSG its “home away from home” in recent decades, especially when it came to the Big East tournament.

The series against St. John’s guarantees Syracuse will continue to play in New York City, which holds a large SU fan base.

“Playing in Madison Square Garden is always a special event for Syracuse and for our fans in New York City,” continued Boeheim. “It will be great that our fans in Central New York will have the chance to see St. John’s in the Dome the following year.”

Published on January 31, 2013 at 12:10 am

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