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Syracuse University
23-13
Michigan State
30-5
How Sweet It Is!
3/18/2018 5:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DETROIT – For the 19th time in program history, the Syracuse men's basketball team is headed to the Sweet 16!
The Orange (23-13) danced their way into the Midwest Regional semifinals with a 55-53 victory over No. 3 seed Michigan State (30-5) Sunday in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at Little Caesars Arena.
WE DO NOT QUIT!! pic.twitter.com/m9GWcPzYZV
— Syracuse Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) March 18, 2018
Three Orange scored in double figures. Sophomore Tyus Battle paced Syracuse with 17 points, including 16 in the second half. Freshman Oshae Brissett added 15 points and a team-best nine rebounds, while junior Frank Howard scored 13.
Lit ?????? pic.twitter.com/IH3iPxanCw
— Syracuse Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) March 18, 2018
Cassius Winston had 15 points to the lead the Spartans.
Syracuse is now 11-7 all-time against Michigan State, including five straight wins in the series.
HOW IT WAS DECIDED
Playing for the third time in five days, the Orange won again with defense. The Spartans shot just 25.8 percent (17-66) for the game and turned the ball over 14 times. They attempted 37 shots from beyond the 3-point arc, the most ever for a Syracuse opponent in an NCAA Tournament game. They made eight and outscored Syracuse 24-3 from long range. However, the Orange hit 24-of-31 (.774) free throws, including 19-of-23 (.826) in the second half, to negate the advantage. Battle led the Syracuse parade at the charity stripe, connecting on 9-of-10 attempts.
Michigan State led 48-43 on a basket by Winston with 5:41 remaining, but his hoop proved to be the Spartans' last field goal. The Syracuse zone suffocated the Spartans for the remainder of the game. Michigan State missed its last 13 attempts from floor and the Orange outscored the Spartans 12-5 during that span to emerge victorious.
In the last 10 seconds, Syracuse made three of its four free throws. Junior Paschal Chukwu made one out of two foul shots with 2.4 seconds left to provide the winning margin.
GAME SUMMARY
Michigan State scored seven of the game's first nine points before the Syracuse zone started to flummox the Spartans, who missed their next six shots and went nearly five minutes without scoring.
The Orange took advantage of the dry spell, tallying the next eight points, including a twisting jumper by freshman Marek Dolezaj with 13:31 to go in the first half that put Syracuse ahead for the first time, 8-7.
A pair of free throws by Jaren Jackson Jr. at the 11:45 mark broke the Michigan State drought and sparked a 13-5 run for the Spartans that resulted in a 20-15 advantage.
Facing a five-point deficit for the third time in the first half, Howard tallied four straight Orange points and Brissett followed with a 3-pointer to knot the game 22-22 with 1:20 left.
A desperation three at the buzzer by Matt McQuaid lifted the Spartans to a 25-22 halftime edge.
In the second half, a trifecta by Winston less than 30 seconds into the period gave Michigan State its largest lead, 28-22.
The Spartans were still up six (38-32) until five straight free throws, including three by Brissett, drew the Orange to within 38-37 at the under-12 media timeout.
During the next six minutes, the Michigan State lead grew to five twice, but the Spartans couldn't pull away and two free throws by Dolezaj with 4:22 remaining pushed Syracuse in front, 49-48. It was the Orange's first lead since midway through the opening half.
Neither side could get much going down the stretch until Battle drained a step-back jumper with 47 seconds to play that extended the Syracuse margin to 52-49. That was score with six seconds on the clock when McQuaid went to the free-throw line. He made both to trim the lead to 52-51.
Each team fouled once during the next three seconds with Battle and Winston trading two free throws apiece to make it 54-53 Syracuse.
After Winston hit his two, Xavier Tillman sent Chukwu to the line. The 7-foot-2 Orange center made the first and missed the second. Josh Langford grabbed the rebound, but the Spartans' heave from halfcourt as the final whistle sounded was off the mark.
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OF NOTE
Syracuse is the fourth team from the First Four to advance to the Sweet 16 since the NCAA initiated the play-in games in 2011. The others: VCU (2011), LaSalle (2013) and Tennessee (2014). Only VCU advanced past the regional semifinals, making it all the way to the Final Four.
The Orange's three NCAA Tournament opponents all averaged better than 80 points a game, but struggled mightily against Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone. The Orange held Arizona State, TCU and Michigan State to 56, 52 and 53Â points, respectively.
Syracuse limited Michigan State's Miles Bridges, who averaged a team-best 17.3 points per game coming into Sunday, to 11 points. Bridges did not score until he hit a three at the 2:55 mark of the first half.
The Spartans' 25 points were their third-fewest in one half of play this season. Michigan State scored 24 in the first half against both Maryland (Jan. 28) and Penn State (Jan. 31).
Junior Braedon Bayer replaced Howard in the Syracuse lineup after Howard fouled out with less than seven minutes to go. The former walk-on, who began his career at Division III Grinnell College, played the final 6:29 of the game and contributed one block and one steal. Prior to Sunday, Bayer had seen the court for a total of 11 minutes this season.
Michigan State outrebounded the Orange 51-30, including a 29-7 margin on the offensive glass. The Spartans' board work led to a 21-5 advantage in second-chance points.
Battle now has 693 points this season, the most ever for an Orange sophomore. Jonny Flynn held the previous Syracuse record for points by a second-year player with 663 in 2008-09. In addition, Battle played all 40 minutes for the 14th time in the last 17 games.
Brissett is making his way up the Syracuse freshman scoring list. He now has 538 points, which is 10 points shy of Flynn for fourth among Orange rookies.
WHAT'S NEXT
A matchup with ACC rival Duke awaits the Orange in the Sweet 16. The game will be played Friday, March 23 at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb. The second-seeded Blue Devils advanced to the semifinals of the Midwest Regional with convincing wins over Iona and Rhode Island in the first two rounds.
