Syracuse nips No. 1 Louisville Butler 64, Gonzaga 63
Brandon Triche scored 23 points, and No. 6 Syracuse rallied to upset No. 1 Louisville 70-68 on Saturday in a Big East showdown in Louisville, Ky.
It was the second consecutive Saturday the No. 1 team in the country was beaten. Duke lost to then-No. 20 North Carolina State 84-76 on Jan. 12.
Michael Carter-Williams added 16 points for the Orange (17-1, 5-0), which won its seventh consecutive game overall and its third in a row against the Cardinals. Russ Smith led Louisville (16-2, 4-1), which had its 11-game winning streak stopped, with 25 points.
Trailing 48-40 four minutes into the second half, Syracuse used a 12-4 run to tie the score. Triche and Carter-Williams then combined to score 12 points in a row to help the Orange open a 66-62 lead with 4:37 left.
The Cardinals used a 6-0 run to open a 68-66 lead with 1:58 left before Carter-Williams sandwiched two free throws around a steal and a dunk for Syracuse’s final points.
Louisville’s chance to force overtime ended with a bad pass inside to Gorgui Dieng. The Orange chased down the ball to seal the victory.
Roosevelt Jones stole an inbound pass around midcourt, took a few dribbles, then sank a floater from just inside the free-throw line as time expired to lift No. 13 Butler (16-2) past No. 8 Gonzaga (17-2) in a battle of Bulldogs in Indianapolis. Jones scored 20 points to help Butler extend its winning streak to 13 games and end Gonzaga’s winning streak at eight.