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 Championship semi-finals , where it was knocked off by Connecticut , 85 – 67
Big East Championship
1996 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
1995–96 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team