1995–96 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team

The 1995–96 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team represented Syracuse University as a member of the Big East Conference. The head coach was Jim Boeheim, serving for his 20th year. The team played its home games at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The team finished with a 29–9 (12–6) record, while making it to the Championship Game of the NCAA tournament.

1995–96 Syracuse Orangemen men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Runner-up
National Championship Game, L 67-76 vs. Kentucky
Conference	Big East Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 15
Record	29–9 (12–6 Big East)
Head coach	Jim Boeheim (20th season)
Assistant coaches	Bernie Fine (20th season) Wayne Morgan (12th season) Mike Hopkins (1st season)
Home arena	Carrier Dome

1995–96 Big East men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Big East 6
No. 3 Connecticut†	17	–	1		.944			32	–	3		.914
No. 10 Villanova	14	–	4		.778			26	–	7		.788
Boston College	10	–	8		.556			19	–	11		.633
West Virginia	7	–	11		.389			12	–	15		.444
St. John's	5	–	13		.278			11	–	16		.407
Notre Dame	4	–	14		.222			9	–	18		.333
Big East 7
No. 4 Georgetown	13	–	5		.722			29	–	8		.784
No. 15 Syracuse	12	–	6		.667			29	–	9		.763
Providence	9	–	9		.500			18	–	12		.600
Miami	8	–	10		.444			15	–	13		.536
Seton Hall	7	–	11		.389			12	–	16		.429
Rutgers	6	–	12		.333			9	–	18		.333
Pittsburgh	5	–	13		.278			10	–	17		.370
† 1996 Big East tournament winner As of April 1, 1996 Rankings from AP Poll

The team was led by seniors John Wallace and Lazarus Sims. Fellow senior J.B. Reafsnyder, juniors Jason Cipolla and Otis Hill, sophomore Todd Burgan and Marius Janulis played key roles. Walk-on and future NFL star Donovan McNabb also appeared in five games.

Season recap

Syracuse was aided by the return of John Wallace, who had declared for the NBA draft, but chose to withdraw his early entry. Wallace would lead Syracuse in scoring for 30-of-38 games, leading Syracuse to an early 11–0 record.

With the Orangemen hitting a bump in mid-season losing five of eight Big East games, Boeheim chose to insert Jason Cipolla into the starting lineup in favor of Marius Janulis. The move worked as Syracuse would go 8–1 to finish the regular season with a record of 22–7. Syracuse would advance to the Big East tournament semifinals, where it was knocked off by Connecticut, 85–67.

Syracuse was named a No. 4 seed for the tournament, and played one of its most memorable games in the Sweet 16 against Georgia. Cipolla hit a jumper as time expired in regulation to send the game to overtime, and John Wallace sealed the victory with a 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining to propel Syracuse to an 83–81 win. Wallace finished with 30 points and 15 rebounds in that game.

Syracuse would knock off the Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Jacque Vaughn-led Kansas in the Elite 8, and Erick Dampier and the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the national semifinal game. This set up a matchup between Jim Boeheim and former assistant Rick Pitino, who was now head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats in the National Championship game.

Syracuse, a heavy underdog, nearly overcame a 13-point second-half deficit, closing to within 2, but Kentucky held on for a 76–67 victory. Kentucky featured a deep team, including future NBA players Derek Anderson, Antoine Walker, Tony Delk and Ron Mercer.

Roster

• John Wallace (22.2 points, 8.7 rebounds)
• Jason Cipolla (7.7 points, 2.0 rebounds)
• Lazarus Sims (6.3 points, 7.4 assists)
• Todd Burgan (12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds)
• Otis Hill (12.7 points, 5.5 rebounds)
• Marius Janulis (6.1 points, 2.1 rebounds)
• J. B. Reafsnyder (5.5 points, 3.4 rebounds)

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 25, 1995*		Lafayette	W 87–63	1–0	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Nov 28, 1995*		Colgate	W 89–55	2–0	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Dec 3, 1995		at Providence	W 82–78	3–0 (1–0)	Dunkin' Donuts Center  Providence, Rhode Island
Dec 5, 1995		St. John's	W 97–72	4–0 (2–0)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Dec 8, 1995*		Columbia	W 83–60	5–0	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Dec 9, 1995*		Washington State	W 77–75	6–0	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Dec 13, 1995*	No. 25	Bowling Green State	W 75–64	7–0	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Dec 16, 1995*	No. 25	College of Charleston	W 72–61	8–0	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Dec 23, 1995*	No. 19	at No. 3 Arizona	W 79–70	9–0	McKale Center  Tucson, Arizona
Dec 27, 1995*	No. 13	vs. No. 12 Illinois Rainbow Classic	W 75–64	10–0	Stan Sheriff Center  Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 28, 1995*	No. 13	vs. Rhode Island Rainbow Classic	W 92–66	11–0	Stan Sheriff Center  Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 29, 1995*	No. 13	vs. No. 1 UMass Rainbow Classic	L 47–65	11–1	Stan Sheriff Center  Honolulu, Hawaii
Jan 3, 1996	No. 11	at Miami (FL)	L 66–75	11–2 (2–1)	Miami Arena  Miami, Florida
Jan 10, 1996	No. 14	Providence	W 77–75	12–2 (3–1)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Jan 14, 1996	No. 14	Rutgers	W 81–80	13–2 (4–1)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Jan 16, 1996	No. 12	at West Virginia	L 78–90	13–3 (4–2)	WVU Coliseum  Morgantown, West Virginia
Jan 21, 1996	No. 12	at No. 5 Connecticut	L 70–79	13–4 (4–3)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion  Storrs, Connecticut
Jan 24, 1996	No. 17	at No. 6 Georgetown	L 64–83	13–5 (4–4)	Capital Centre  Washington, D.C.
Jan 27, 1996	No. 17	No. 20 Boston College	W 88–73	14–5 (5–4)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Jan 29, 1996*	No. 18	No. 6 Villanova	L 69–72 OT	14–6 (5–5)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Feb 1, 1996*	No. 18	Miami (FL)	W 72–51	15–6 (6–5)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Feb 4, 1996*	No. 18	Alabama	W 81–68	16–6	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Feb 7, 1996	No. 18	at Pittsburgh	W 73–67	17–6 (7–5)	Fitzgerald Fieldhouse  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Feb 10, 1996*	No. 18	No. 8 Georgetown	W 85–64	18–6 (8–5)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Feb 12, 1996	No. 16	at Rutgers	W 63–54	19–6 (9–5)	Louis Brown Athletic Center  Piscataway, New Jersey
Feb 20, 1996	No. 15	at Seton Hall	L 79–80	19–7 (9–6)	Continental Airlines Arena  East Rutherford, New Jersey
Feb 24, 1996	No. 15	Pittsburgh	W 77–60	20–7 (10–6)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Feb 26, 1996	No. 15	at St. John's	W 92–79	21–7 (11–6)	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Mar 2, 1996	No. 15	Notre Dame	W 71–67	22–7 (12–6)	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Big East tournament
Mar 6, 1996*	No. 13	vs. Notre Dame First round	W 76–55	23–7	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Mar 7, 1996*	No. 13	vs. Boston College Quarterfinals	W 69–61	24–7	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Mar 8, 1996*	No. 13	vs. No. 3 Connecticut Semifinals	L 67–85	24–8	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
NCAA tournament
Mar 14, 1996*	(4 W) No. 15	vs. (13 W) Montana State First round	W 88–55	25–8	The Pit  Albuquerque, New Mexico
Mar 16, 1996*	(4 W) No. 15	vs. (12 W) Drexel Second Round	W 69–58	26–8	The Pit  Albuquerque, New Mexico
Mar 22, 1996*	(4 W) No. 15	vs. (8 W) Georgia West Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 83–81 OT	27–8	McNichols Sports Arena  Denver, Colorado
Mar 24, 1996*	(4 W) No. 15	vs. (2 W) No. 4 Kansas West Regional Final – Elite Eight	W 60–57	28–8	McNichols Sports Arena  Denver, Colorado
Mar 30, 1996*	(4 W) No. 15	vs. (5 SE) No. 19 Mississippi State National semifinal – Final Four	W 77–69	29–8	Continental Airlines Arena  East Rutherford, New Jersey
Apr 1, 1996*	(4 W) No. 15	vs. (1 MW) No. 2 Kentucky National Championship Game	L 67–76	29–9	Continental Airlines Arena  East Rutherford, New Jersey
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West.

Rankings

Main article: 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	25	19	13	11	14	12	17	18	18	16	15	15	13	15	Not released
Coaches	—	—	—	—	—	22	14	12	14	12	13	16	18	16	16	14	13	14	3