Syracuse fans line up in the end zone of the basketball court to watch the Orange warm up before the team's game against Seton Hall in December at the Carrier Dome. The 25,412 fans who witnessed Syracuse’s game against Marquette at the Carrier Dome on Saturday helped set the mark for the largest crowd at a college basketball game this season.
Syracuse’s games against Seton Hall (25,081) and Florida (24,459) come in a Nos. 2 and 3.
But, Syracuse fans, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
With Syracuse undefeated at 17-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country, tickets for the Orange’s seven remaining home games are going fast.
Ticket sales estimates are at or above 20,500 for each of Syracuse’s home games.
Syracuse has already sold 28,500 tickets to the Feb. 11 game against Connecticut, according to SU director of athletic communications Pete Moore.
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The regular season finale against Louisville on March 3 has reached 25,500 in sales. The same number of tickets has been sold to SU’s Jan. 28 game against West Virginia. All three of those games are on Saturdays.
Approximately 24,000 tickets have been sold to the Feb. 8 game against Georgetown, which is on a Wednesday.
If sales continue as expected, the Connecticut and Louisville games figure to see crowds in excess of 30,000. The Connecticut game is already close to the 30,000-mark and Moore said sales for Senior Day games generally get a boost in the last week or two of the regular season.
Syracuse hasn’t had three games of 30,000-plus attendance since the 2002-03 NCAA championship campaign. Syracuse could duplicate that feat this year if tickets to the Georgetown or West Virginia games continue to sell at their current pace.
In the 2002-03 season, Syracuse drew crowds of 30,303 for a game against Pittsburgh, 32,116 for Notre Dame and 33,071 for the regular season finale against Rutgers, which turned out to be Carmelo Anthony’s last college game at the Carrier Dome.
Syracuse’s attendance is already running ahead of recent years.
The Carrier Dome's average attendance through the season's first 12 home games is at 21,007.
Taking the current sales estimates for the seven remaining home games, Syracuse's project attendance would increase to 22,083. That would exceed the Orange's attendance at the Dome in 12 of the last 15 seasons.
Any boost that would push the season’s average over 23,000 would be give Syracuse its best average attendance since the 1994-95 season when Syracuse drew 24,245 on average.
