The Huskies play Sacred Heart on Wednesday night, their first game at the XL Center, then step back up to face Maryland at Madison Square Garden on December 8 and Ohio State at Gampel Pavilion on December 12. We had tough games before we came down here and I think that helped us a lot. “This is one of our better wins”.
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25 Texas A&M Aggies, 74-67, on Friday to capture the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis championship at Imperial Arena in the Bahamas.
Michigan, looking to bounce back off a disappointing 16-16 season that snapped the program’s streak of four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, finds itself in the consolation bracket of the Battle 4 Atlantis where it will meet Charlotte on Thursday. This time the Orange relied on the toughness-driven brand of basketball that was its hallmarks in its Big East Conference days.
Michael Gbinije led Syracuse with 20 points and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
The Niners had no answers for Gbinije who led all scorers with 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting, including six makes from behind the three-point line. “I think Texas A&M has tremendous ability, tremendous talent and I thought we just hung in there when things weren’t going our way a couple times”, said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. The 49ers are only 1-3 on the season, but they made a charge against the Orange and cut the lead to nine after they fell behind by as many as 25 points.
That changed around the 13-minute mark when the Orange (5-0) tightened their zone on defense, and started an 18-8 spurt that gave Syracuse a 65-55 lead with 7:45 remaining.
MOVING ON: Charlotte senior forward Bernard Sullivan said the only way to move past what he called an “embarrassing” effort on Thursday is for the team to turn the page as quickly as possible.
It was hardly the greatest game the two have ever played in their 92 meetings.
They got the lead to as big as 10 points before UConn clawed their way back thanks mostly to three 3-pointers by Sterling Gibbs in less than two minutes. The Huskies also dealt with Trevor Cooney ploughing into the lane and ending up at the free throw line.
“We were all around the basket and didn’t get fouled, and we didn’t make layups”, Kennedy said.
In the final eight minutes of the first half, MI lost the basketball game.
The Orange was aggressive with its zone, but the Aggies were just as patient working for open shots.
The Huskies will play Syracuse (4-0), an 83-70 first-round victor over North Carolina-Charlotte.
After the first media break of the half, Texas A&M had three consecutive successful possessions to take a 44-40 lead. He’s shooting 39% inside and 29% outside the arc, but had an improved 9 point, 6 rebound, 4 assist performance in a start against Syracuse.
Syracuse Orange guard Malachi Richardson (far right) celebrates the victory with teammates.
The Huskies began hitting the three-pointers they were missing throughout the game, and pulled within two down the stretch.
Tyler Lydon added 16 points off the bench.
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Cooney also had five assists. “We just have to continue to play hard and compete, we should be fine”, said Gbinije. “It should be a really good game”.
