It’s a season of lasts for Syracuse. The Orange is in its last Big East season and will play in its last Big East tournament at season’s end. Each meeting with a long-time conference rival could be the last for the foreseeable future.

One rivalry in particular stands out for SU: Georgetown. It’s the game the upperclassmen get most geared up for every year and underclassmen are most excited for when they arrive at Syracuse. On Tuesday the two will play for what is likely the last time as members of the Big East.

“It’s not just about that one team, it’s just about going through this conference now,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “Things are winding down and you know it’s almost the end of some of these teams you’ve been playing for the last eight years for me now.”

The Orange (19-3, 7-2 Big East) travels to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for its last regular season meeting with the Hoyas (13-10, 4-6) as a member of the Big East.

But as No. 23 Syracuse continues to rise through the ranks and jostle for NCAA Tournament positioning, center Kayla Alexander and the rest of the Orange are treating the perhaps final meeting with GU as “just another basketball game.”

“We’ve got to get the W if we want to get our goal at the end of the season,” Alexander said.

The final tour through the conference has been a “bittersweet” experience for SU guard Elashier Hall. As a senior, these would be her final tests against old conference foes.

But the importance of the end of an era isn’t lost on the underclassmen either. Even if they’ve only played these old rivals once or twice, the final trek through Big East play still holds special significance.

“There’s more going into this game because it’s going to be our last time playing them, it’s our last time for the Big East against them,” freshman guard Brianna Butler said of the upcoming game. “So we just want to go in and get a win.

Entering the season, Syracuse’s senior class had never won against Georgetown. Five tries. Five losses. When the two met for the first time this season, the Orange finally got its win, a 30-point victory in the Carrier Dome.

But even then, SU started slow. The Hoyas’ star guard Sugar Rodgers kept GU in the game early and Syracuse made unforced errors before blowing Georgetown away in the second half.

Those nerves are gone now.

“The jitters of playing them the first time, the excitement, everything going on, we kind of got that out of the way by getting the W,” Hall said. “And then getting it with a great number like that, a second one would be great.”

Nearly every meeting between the Orange and the Hoyas turns out to be a memorable one. Last year GU scored the final five points of the game to spoil SU’s Senior Day. Two years before that, Rodgers hit a runner with 20 seconds left to hand Georgetown an overtime victory.

The 30-point blowout partially avenged that. The memories of the past aren’t all gone, but so far, Hall will mainly remember the victory in the Dome.

Though GU has disappointed this season, Syracuse doesn’t expect this to be anything other than a hard-fought battle. While the Orange has cruised at home, most conference contests away from the Dome have been tight. Going against an archrival, Alexander doesn’t expect Tuesday night to be any different.

“Every time we go down to Georgetown it’s always been a dogfight because we’re in their gym,” Alexander said. “So we have to bring our A game.”

Published on February 11, 2013 at 11:18 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2