SU Upsets IU and Advances to Elite 8

Thursday, March 28

Washington, D.C.

9:45 p.m.

Syracuse University

29-9

Indiana

29-7

Syracuse

Indiana

Michael Carter-Williams led the Orange offense with a career-high 24 points

3/28/2013 10:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Syracuse 61, Indiana 50 | Quotes | Photo Gallery | Watch: Coach Boeheim post-game

Washington, D.C. – Behind a career-high, 24-point performance from sophomore Michael Carter-Williams, fourth-seeded Syracuse (29-9) knocked off top-seeded Indiana (29-7), 61-50, with a solid defenisve effort in the Sweet 16 round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.

With the victory, the Orange is advancing to its ninth appearance in the Elite Eight, facing BIG EAST rival Marquette on Saturday, March 30. SU also improves to 59-35 in NCAA Tournament games, while Hall of Fame head coach Jim Boeheim moves to 51-27, ranking him fourth in career coaching wins in the event.

In addition to his personal best mark, Carter-Williams also registered six rebounds and four steals. Senior Brandon Triche recorded 14 points, while junior C.J. Fair posted 11 points and grabbed a team-high nine boards.

"Indiana presents a lot of problems offensively and we wanted to get on their 3-point shooters," said Boeheim. "We did not want to let them get good looks and we did that -- defensively we got back inside quickly on their big guys when they tried to finish around the basket."

The SU defense limited Indiana to 33.3 percent from the field (16-of-49) and 20 percent (3-of-15) from behind the arc. Syracuse also forced 19 turnovers, including 12 in the first half alone.

The Orange broke away with an early eight-point lead,11-3, with 14:10 remaining in the opening frame following a bucket from Carter-Williams and a three-pointer from senior James Southerland. Stretching the five-point spurt into a 10-4 run, SU took its first double-digit lead of the game at 18-7.

Leading by nine with 7:33 remaining in half, Syracuse took over a double figure advantage for the rest of the period, as Triche connected on a bucket to lift Syracuse ahead by 11 at 20-9. The Orange stretched its lead as high as 18 points before Christian Watford halted the scoring with a three-pointer. With less than two minutes remaining, Syracuse held on to the advantage, entering the intermission leading 34-22.

Indiana came out the break firing five unanswered points to trim the score to 34-27. Despite layups from Triche and Fair, the Hoosiers continued to move in on the lead, as Victor Oladipo hit a three ball to narrow the advantage to six points at 38-32 with 14:11 remaining in the game.

Syracuse responded with a 12-5 run, featuring Carter-Williams' third three-pointer of the evening that put the Orange on top by 15 points at 52-37. From there, Fair converted on both shots from the free throw line and Triche tossed in another bucket to expand the margin to 56-40.

With less than five minutes remaining in the game, Chris Watford hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to 10, but SU responded with five shots from the charity stripe to seal a 61-50 win.