The Black Knights lost 90-52 to Maryland in their opening game in 2014, and Syracuse has been eliminated in the second round in each of the last two seasons.
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Dayton’s Jeremiah Bonsu puts up a shot during practice ahead of a first-round men’s college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 17, 2016, in St. Louis.
Guard Charles Cooke led the 7th-seeded Flyers (25-8) with 14 points, but hit just 4 of 12 field goals. “There are a lot of teams that aren’t here that wish they were”.
Though Hopkins tried to keep everything the same – “If I had a wristband, it would have said, ‘What would Jim Boeheim do?” he said – the sense of disruption and shock was undeniable.
“We beat ourselves in this game”, Davis said. This year will be hard again as Syracuse plays a strong zone defense that would cause the Flyers to have to shoot well consistently, which could be an issue for them.
Through the first 11 minutes of the second half, Syracuse had extended its lead to 20 points, and the Flyers had only five second-half points. It became a 23-point spread after Richardson converted a traditional 3-point play with 7:48 remaining. “It’s kind of an exciting time to have both teams playing simultaneously and it’s definitely great for the community”, said Manny’s General Manager Mike Theiss.
“We wanted to make sure we did a good job getting out to their shooters and take away that baseline pass when they had the two-guard front”, Richardson said.
When CBS’ cameras flashed to the upset de facto mascot, Dayton was down by 22 points in the second half.
Syracuse opened up its tournament play on Friday afternoon when it took on Dayton, and it dominated the Flyers.
“Having that winning culture here in Dayton is a big thing for us”, Pierre said.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman likes to say the objective of the Orange’s swarming defense is to make opponents uncomfortable. The school self-imposed a ban from competing in the 2015 NCAA Tournament while undergoing an NCAA investigation for rules violations.
Every key player of this team made an impact on this game (yes, even Trevor Cooney).
SU squeaked into the tournament after losing five of its last six games.
“Nobody that said we didn’t deserve to be in obviously doesn’t know anything about basketball”, Boeheim said after the 70-51 win against Dayton on Friday in the first round. “So we didn’t think about it. We don’t need to react to those things. And these guys don’t listen to that stuff”. “We had that in mind for a long time from the beginning, even when we weren’t in the tournament”.
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Two years ago, the Orange went 0-10 from 3-point range – and that included star guard Ennis’ 0-5 performance from beyond the arc. The hurdle the Wildcats have not cleared since 2009: their second game of the NCAA Tournament. “We’re very happy to be able to do that this year after not being in the tournament last year”.
