The Syracuse women’s basketball team has never fared well against Notre Dame, notching just two wins in 19 meetings against the Irish. But this year’s SU team is not worrying about the past – mostly because the players don’t know about it.

‘They don’t know that because I didn’t know that,’ SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said of the poor record against Notre Dame. ‘And I’m not going to tell them.’

In the series, Notre Dame (12-5, 3-1) has scored 70 or more points 16 times while Syracuse (8-11, 2-4) has been held to just 49.6 points per game over the last six contests. On top of the .105 winning percentage overall against the Irish, SU has failed to notch a victory in nine games at the Joyce Center, Notre Dame’s home court, where they will travel on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Joyce Center has the potential to be a much more hostile atmosphere than the Carrier Dome, which has only averaged 257 fans for each home game this season. Notre Dame’s home arena has hosted an average of 6,281 fans per game on the season, but it still pales in comparison to Connecticut’s 11,526 fans per game, where the Orange played over break.

‘They should play us 21 times then,’ Hillsman joked. ‘Then they would go to the Final Four.’

But perhaps ignorance is bliss for Syracuse, because there are only two players on the team that have ever played at the Joyce Center. Juniors Vaida Sipaviciute and Mary Joe Riley traveled to Notre Dame their freshmen year, but the rest of the active roster is made up of freshmen, sophomores and junior college transfers.

Sophomore guard Cintia Johnson is one of the players that did not have the opportunity to play in South Bend because the Orange played host to the Irish last season.

‘I wouldn’t know if it’s a tough place to play because it will be my first time at Notre Dame,’ Johnson said. ‘So it will be new to me.’

Even Hillsman has never seen the inside of Notre Dame’s home arena. He said he has no idea how tough a place it is to play in, but he doesn’t think the crowd plays as much of a role as many would think.

‘I don’t know if arenas make that much of a difference,’ Hillsman said. ‘I think home court advantage is having a set routine every day.’

Syracuse will also have to overcome a more recent trend if it hopes to beat Notre Dame on Saturday. The Orange has not beaten a Big East team with a winning record this season and its lone conference wins came against Villanova on Jan. 9 and St. John’s on Dec. 7, teams that are a combined 2-8 in the conference and 13-23 overall.

Though three of the four losses have come at the hands of ranked teams like Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Marquette, Hillsman is not satisfied with the team’s record thus far in the Big East schedule.

‘I think that when you start taking consolations in losses then you start to say that losing is ok, and we don’t do that,’ Hillsman said.

Senior guard Ashley McMillen transferred to Syracuse from Monroe (N.Y.) Community College in her junior season. She has never been to the Joyce Center but said she spoke to some of her teammates about what to expect.

While her head coach does not believe in looking at the history, senior McMillen sees the poor record as a motivating factor for the team.

‘We go into every game knowing there is a history against Syracuse and we’re trying to break that,’ McMillen said.

Regardless of how the teams have fared in the past, Hillsman is only worried about this weekend’s game.

‘History makes no difference because the score starts 0-0,’ he said. ‘And we have a few players that can make some plays and they have a few players who can make some plays and whoever makes the most plays is going to win the game.’

Published on January 17, 2007 at 12:00 pm