SYRACUSE HEADS TO SWEET SIXTEEN:
Syracuse uses smothering ‘D’ to knock off Sparty
DETROIT — Syracuse barely got into the NCAA Tournament, getting the 68th and final spot.
The Orange have earned the right to keep playing in college basketball’s showcase. And, no one will be excited about facing that zone defense.
Tyus Battle had 17 points, Oshae Brissett scored 15, and 11th-seeded Syracuse zoned Michigan State out of the tournament, 55-53 on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16.
“No one plays zone like we do,” Brissett said. “We’re always moving — and we challenge every shot — so teams never get easy looks against us. That’s why nothing surprises me with our defense.”
Syracuse (23-13) will face second-seeded Duke (28-7) on Friday in the Midwest Region semifinals.
Playing in his hometown with a chance to add another highlight-reel shot to this year’s NCAA Tournament, Cassius Winston missed an opportunity to win the game for the thirdseeded Spartans with a shot from about 45 feet just before the buzzer.
“It’s one of those shots you shoot as a kid,” he said softly. “I just came up short.”
The Spartans came up short, long and wide all afternoon and didn’t make a basket in the last 5:41.
The Orange forced the Spartans (30-5) to settle for 3-pointers all afternoon and it worked brilliantly in a duel between Hall of Fame coaches. Michigan State took a school record 37 shots beyond the arc, making just eight.
“The last couple of jump shots they threw up, they weren’t in the ballpark,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said.
Syracuse has won three straight since being sent to Dayton for the First Four as what the selection committee chairman acknowledged was the final team to receive an at-large bid. In low-scoring games, the Orange beat Arizona State in Dayton and TCU in the first round. They overcame playing three games in five days and essentially playing a road game, matching up with Michigan State about 75 miles from its campus with green-and-white clad fans packing the stands.
As poorly as Michigan State shot, it had chances to escape with a victory.
Miles Bridges missed a 3 with a chance to tie with 11 seconds left and teammate Joshua Langford missed a putback, but Syracuse turned the ball over with 7.9 seconds left.
The Orange fouled intentionally to avoid giving up a game-tying 3 twice in the closing seconds and the Spartans made two pairs of free throws to pull within a point both times.
“We’re always going to foul in those situations and it’s always worked for us,” Boeheim said. “I’ve seen too many guys when the guy makes a 3 and it goes into overtime.”
Paschal Chukwu connected on one free throw with 2.4 seconds left and the miss gave Michigan State a chance to win in dramatic fashion, but Winston couldn’t pull it off.
Syracuse took the lead for the first time in the second half with 4:22 left. And then the Orange held on as the Spartans missed their last 13 shots.
Bridges’ college career likely is ending with a performance he would like to forget.
“It’s probably the saddest I’ve ever been in my life,” Bridges said.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo acknowledged he expects Bridges to go pro.
The sophomore star, who turned a chance to make millions in the NBA this season, was held scoreless for much of the first half and finished with 11 points on 4 of 18 shooting, making just 3 of 12 shots.
“Bridges is a great player, but we wanted to make him shoot from the outside,” Boeheim said.
Izzo insisted he will be back next season to help the school and his program bounce back from a scandal stemming from sexual assault allegations were handled against Larry Nassar, a former Michigan State doctor who was sentenced to decades in jail.
“I didn’t break this year and I’m not going to break,” he said, surrounded by a slew of reporters after his news conference.
SAN DIEGO — Gabe DeVoe scored 22 points and Elijah Thomas had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Clemson, which closed the first half with a 25-4 run that helped it beat cold-shooting Auburn and advance to the Midwest Region semifinal.
In a matchup between Southern schools better known for football, the No. 5 seed Clemson Tigers proved far more adept on the hardwood than the No. 4 seed Auburn Tigers.
The blowout win put Clemson (25-9) into the Sweet 16 for the fourth time overall and the first since 1997, earning it a spot against Kansas in the regional semifinal.
Auburn, which played this season under the cloud of a federal investigation into corruption in college basketball, finished 26-8.
—AP