Welcome to our Historic Hoops series, where we offer a guide to historic places related (at least tangentially) to a televised men’s or women’s NCAA basketball matchup each week throughout the 2015-2016 season. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or simply stuck watching with your significant other, we’re here to assist your viewing experience with some historic context beyond the hardwood.

This week’s matchup: Notre Dame at Syracuse

Time: Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m. EST

Channel: ESPN2

Venue: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York

Opening Tip: OK, full disclosure: I am a Syracuse alum.

As with last week's matchup, neither team is currently ranked, but make no mistake, this is going to be a good game between two top-tier programs. And to top it off, the setting for this prestigious private school matchup is one of the most unique experiences in college hoops.

Fast Break:

There is no place in the college game like the Carrier Dome. The gargantuan structure is covered with a Teflon-coated fiberglass dome is perched atop Syracuse University’s campus and stares down at the surrounding city. It is incredibly massive and undeniably hideous. Once you enter, there is no mistaking that it was completed in 1980, but as a sporting venue, it’s a true classic.

The building seats more than 49,000 for SU’s football and lacrosse teams, but for hoops the floor is laid horizontally across one end zone and a set of bleachers is erected in the direction of mid field. Popular basketball matchups attract more than 30,000 fans.

But beyond the Carrier Dome, Central New York is home to an incredible array of history, from abolitionism, to economic history, to the founding of the women’s rights movement.

Three Points:

• The Carrier Dome itself covers 7.7 acres, and is 570 feet long and 470 feet wide. The top of its dome sits 165 feet above the playing surface.
• Prior to the Civil War, Syracuse was an openly abolitionist city and was known as the Great Central Depot of the Underground Railroad. With its collections of religious sects that were supportive of the abolitionist cause like the Quakers and Unitarians, the area was a hub for those escaping servitude.
• On July 19 and 20 of 1848, dozens gathered in Seneca Falls, less than an hour from Syracuse, for the first womens’ rights convention. Prominent attendees included Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Frederick Douglass, who lived in nearby Rochester where he published an abolitionist newspaper.

Buzzer Beater: The Erie Canal was established in 1817 and eventually connected the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo. The original construction created a 4-foot-deep and 40-foot wide waterway that ran through Syracuse and contributed greatly to the city’s strength and status.

And-1: #11 Michigan State visits Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 28 on ESPN. The arena was built as McGaw Memorial Hall, was dedicated in 1953, and hosted the 1956 Final Four.