The Orange are moving on to the Final Four. Here's a recap of the weekend's games and reactions for the fans.
A weekend full of tough defense and tougher shots culminated in Syracuse’s first Final Four berth in ten years.
After a disappointing finish to the regular season and its last Big East tournament, Syracuse looked poise to prove itself on the biggest stage: the NCAA tournament. It wasn’t an easy road for the fourth-seeded Orange, who needed to push its way through Big Ten and Big East powerhouses Indiana (29-7) and Marquette (26-9) before finally re-living the Final Four dream.
The Orange dropped its second straight game, losing to Marquette, 74-71
Syracuse's best player is CJ Fair
Not Michael Carter-Williams, Brandon Triche or James Southerland. CJ Fair. His 20 points against Marquette was the 12th time this season he has had 15 or more points. He has nine double-doubles on the season, including five in conference play.
After undergoing knee surgery, SU center Dajuan Coleman looks to return to action when SU travels to play Marquette Monday night.
Syracuse looks to get some interior depth with the return of its freshman center DaJuan Coleman.
After, a 57-46 loss to Georgetown Saturday night, head coach Jim Boeheim said Coleman should be set to play Marquette on Feb. 25.
"I think he could play now," Boeheim said. "I wanted to give him at least a couple days of practice and just see how he felt. But I really wanted to give him a week or so."
Marquette hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with less than 30 seconds to play, and the Golden Eagles defeated Syracuse for the second time this year to end SU's season and advance to the NCAA's Sweet-16.
Freshman guard Dion Waiters scored a career-high 18 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Orange were upset by 11-seed Marquette, 66-62, ending Syracuse’s season.
SU was hampered by 18 turnovers and six charging calls on offense. Marquette used heavy pressure to prevent the Orange from running their offense, and Syracuse struggled to find any sort of offensive rhythm.
The loss of sophomore Brandon Triche didn’t help the Orange either. Triche landed flush on his back after going up for a lay-up in the second half and never returned to the game.