Syracuse, N.Y. – Syracuse will venture outside the Carrier Dome for the first time this season as it takes on Oklahoma State in the NIT Season Tip-Off at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Syracuse-Oklahoma State matchup is the back end of a doubleheader, with Ole Miss facing Penn State in the first game. The winners and losers will meet each other at the Barclays on Friday at 7 and 9 p.m., respectively.

Syracuse has a young squad with no scholarship seniors on the roster and only one starter back from last season. Oklahoma State, on the other hand, returns all five starters from a year ago and will start three seniors.

The Orange (4-1) comes into game riding a four-game win streak. Oklahoma State is 5-0 but looking to notch its first win over a team from a Power 5 conference.

The Cowboys’ wins have come against Oral Roberts, UM-Kansas City, Charleston, Yale and Western Michigan.

This is the first game in a key stretch during the early portion of the season for Syracuse. Starting tonight, the Orange will play four of its next five games away from home and against teams ranked in KenPom.com’s top 70.

The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start and will be televised on ESPN2.

Here are 10 key things to know as Syracuse gets ready to play Oklahoma State:

The historical significance

Syracuse and Oklahoma State have played each other just five times, but two of those games were in New York City.

Oklahoma State beat Syracuse in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in both 2004 and 2006. In 2004, the Cowboys were ranked No. 5 and Syracuse was at No. 4, but Oklahoma State took an easy 74-60 win. In 2006, No. 22 Oklahoma State edged No. 21 Syracuse 72-68.

The two teams have also met twice in the NCAA tournament. Oklahoma State beat Syracuse in the 1999 tournament, but the Orange staged a memorable rally for a 68-56 win over the Cowboys in the second round of the 2003 tournament.

The only game of the series played on either school’s campus occurred in 1986. Syracuse hosted Oklahoma State in the Carrier Classic. The Orange earned a 73-62 victory.

Syracuse must hit 3s

Syracuse is going to have to find room to take 3-pointers against Oklahoma State’s harassing man-to-man defense.

The Orange is taking 25 shots from 3-point range per game. That’s up slightly from 24.2 per game last year even though the NCAA pushed out the 3-point line a little more than a foot this season.

The big difference is last year Syracuse made just 33 percent of its threes, and this year the number is up to 36 percent.

But consider this: Syracuse went 5-for-29 from 3-point range in its season-opening loss to Virginia. In the four games since then, the Orange has made 41.6 percent of its 3-pointers.

Syracuse is going to need to shoot a good percentage if it hopes to beat Oklahoma State.

Do the Lindy

The key guy for Oklahoma State is Lindy Waters III.

Waters, a 6-foot-6 senior guard, leads Oklahoma State in scoring at 13.0 points per game. He is making 40 percent of his 3-point shots. He is third on the team in rebounding at 5.4 per game.

Last year was Waters’ breakout season. He went from 8.7 points to 12.2 points per game. He improved his 3-point shooting by 7 percent, going from 37 percent in 2018 to 44.8 percent as a junior. That was on basically the same number of attempts (134 to 154).

His 3-point percentage last year was the fourth-best mark in school history, and it also ranked second in the Big 12 Conference. In Big 12 games alone, Waters made 50 percent of his 3-point attempts.

With his size, range and shooting ability, Waters Is the one player that Syracuse has to be constantly aware of on the perimeter.

Hughes’ offensive contributions

If he’s not scoring, he’s helping others score. That’s Elijah Hughes through five games this season.

Hughes is leading Syracuse in both scoring (17.2) and assists (5.0).

In the last 30 years, only five players have led SU in both scoring and assists, and all of them were point guards – Sherman Douglas (1989), Jason Hart (1999), Gerry McNamara (2006), Jonny Flynn (2009) and Michael Gbinije (2016). Gbinije began his career at small forward but was switched to point guard as a senior.

Hughes, a 6-foot-6 small forward, could become the first non-point guard to turn the trick in the Jim Boeheim era.

SU’s zone vs. OSU’s pressure

The game will offer a contrast in defenses as Syracuse employs its 2-3 zone while Oklahoma State prefers its brand of pressure defense.

Oklahoma State is giving up just 60 points per game and Syracuse is allowing just 53.6 points per game.

Syracuse ranks 11th in the country in effective field goal percentage defense. The Cowboys are 39th in the country.

Syracuse was already tested by Virginia and scored just 34 points against the Cavaliers. Oklahoma State will pose another test. The Cowboys rank 36th in the nation in field goal percentage defense and 29th in 3-point field goal percentage defense.

Ice Ice Baby

Oklahoma State’s Isaac “Ice’’ Likekele is a versatile, stat sheet-stuffer. The 6-foot-4 sophomore is averaging 12.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. All that in just 30.6 minutes per game, too.

Syracuse fans might not have heard of Likekele, but he is gaining a national reputation.

This past summer, he was selected to play on the USA team that won a gold medal in the FIBA Under-19 World Cup. Likekele averaged 8.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists for the U.S. squad.

He will pose problems at both ends of the court for Syracuse.

Block party

Oklahoma State and Syracuse are the country’s top two shot-blocking teams.

According to KenPom.com, Syracuse has a blocked shot percentage of 20.6. That means the Orange blocks a shot on just over 20 percent of its opponents’ possessions. The national average is 9.0 percent.

Oklahoma State is right behind Syracuse at No. 2 nationally. The Cowboys have a 20.3 blocked shot percentage.

Oklahoma State’s top shot-blocker is Yor Anei, a 6-foot-10 sophomore. Anei has blocked at least one shot in 22 consecutive games. He has 102 career blocks, making him the only sophomore in the country with more than 100 blocks.

Sidibe’s size

Syracuse will need a solid game from Bourama Sidibe.

The Orange’s 6-foot-10 center will be matched up against Oklahoma State’s Yor Anei to start the game. Oklahoma State also has Keylan and Kalib Boone, a pair of 6-8 and 6-9 freshmen twins.

Sidibe is coming off a good showing against Bucknell. He had nine points and nine rebounds in just 19 minutes, putting him just one point and one rebound shy of his fourth career double-double.

Through the first five games of the season, Sidibe is averaging 7.2 points and 7.0 rebounds.

This is a big test for Sidibe, who had just two points and two rebounds in the season-opening loss to Virginia.

Two Brooklyn homecomings

Coaches from both teams will enjoy a Brooklyn homecoming this Thanksgiving.

Syracuse assistant Allen Griffin grew up in Brooklyn. He attended Paul Robeson High School. As a junior and senior, Griffin led Robeson to Brooklyn Division III titles. Robeson won the PSAL championship in Griffin’s senior year. He finished his high school career with more than 1,000 points.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton is also a Brooklyn native. He played at Bishop Loughlin. He was also a 1,000-point scorer in high school. The Cowboys were scheduled to practice at Bishop Loughlin on Tuesday.

Boynton, who is in his third year as the head coach at Oklahoma State, played at South Carolina from 2001 to 2004.

I’ll be Amsterdam’ed

There are just 19 players from the Netherlands on Division I rosters this season, and two of them will in Wednesday night’s game.

Syracuse freshman Jesse Edwards is a native of Amsterdam. He has appeared in all five games for the Orange this season, averaging 3.2 points and 2.0 rebounds.

Oklahoma State’s Hidde Roessink is a 6-10 freshman from Arnhem. Roessink played in Oklahoma State’s first two games but has missed the last three after suffering a minor knee injury against UM-Kansas City.

Of the 17 other natives of The Netherlands playing Division I ball this year, one is Kai Edwards, Jesse’s older brother, who is a senior at Northern Colorado.

Mike Waters is a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com. Got a comment or idea for a story? He can be reached via email at mwaters@syracuse.com.

More Syracuse basketball:

• Syracuse’s 2020 recruit Woody Newton: ‘His potential and his upside is huge.’
• ACC Power Rankings: Where is Syracuse after its best performance yet?
• 6 numbers to know for Syracuse’s matchup with Oklahoma State

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