The Orange hold off No. 3 Michigan State, 55-53.
DETROI, MI. — 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.
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 points.
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.
GAME SUMMARY
Michigan State scored seven of the game’s first nine points before the Syracuse zone started to flummox the Spartans. Michigan State missed its 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 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.
The Michigan State lead grew to five twice over the next eight minutes, but the Spartans couldn’t pull away and two free throws by Dolezaj with 4:22 to go put 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 key jumper with 47 seconds to play to extend the Syracuse margin to 52-49. That was score with six seconds left when McQuaid went to the free-throw line. He made both to trim the margin to 52-51.
Over the next three seconds, Battle and Winston traded two free throws to make it 54-53 Syracuse.
After Winston hit his two, Xavier Tillman sent Chukwu to the line. The 7-foot-2 center made the first and missed the second. Josh Langford grabbed the rebound for Michigan State, but the Spartans’ desperation heave at the buzzer was off the mark.
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 52 points, respectively.