by Jeff DiVeronica, USA TODAY Sports

SYRACUSE – In his 36 previous seasons, Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse teams won 25 of their 30 games against Rutgers.

So Wednesday night’s 78-53 rout by the seventh-ranked Orange over the Scarlet Knights was hardly a surprise, but it will go down as an important and historic one. Not only did a crowd of 17,413 at the Carrier Dome see Syracuse University win the last Big East season-opening game it’ll ever play, but the victory was the 903rd in Boeheim’s Hall-of-Fame career. It moves him past Bob Knight and into second place in NCAA history behind only Mike Krzyzewski (939) of top-ranked Duke.

It was Knight’s Indiana team that beat Syracuse in the 1987 national championship on Keith Smart’s baseline jumper in the final seconds. Boeheim also guided his 1996 and 2003 squads to the title game, as the Carmelo Anthony-led Orange won it all in 2003.

“It’s a privilege to coach here,” Boeheim, 68, said in a brief ceremony on the court following the game. “I’ve had great, great players and they played pretty well tonight.”

Senior guard Brandon Triche led Syracuse (13-1), which plays at noon Sunday at South Florida (8-3), with 25 points, two off his career high. He made 8 of 11 shots overall, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. C.J Fair had 15 points and sophomore point guard Michael Carter-Williams added 12 points and 10 assists.

The Orange, which used a 21-0 run to end the first half and take control, and Rutgers are both leaving the Big East Conference after this season. Rutgers is going to the Big Ten and Syracuse, a founding member of the league in 1979, announced late in 2011 it would depart for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Pittsburgh soon followed and since then Notre Dame and Louisville also have decided to join the ACC.

Rutgers (9-3) brought a five-game winning streak, including the past three without suspended head coach Mike Rice, into Wednesday. He was suspended by the university reportedly for unspecified mistreatment of players during practices.

The Orange bolted to an 8-2 lead, but Eli Carter’s three 3-pointers offset three by Triche and it was … [For more on No. 7 Syracuse tops Rutgers, Jim Boeheim gets 903rd win, click here.]