ST. LOUIS – Tenth-seeded Syracuse (21-13, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) defeated 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee State (25-10, 13-5 Conference USA), 75-50, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen to face No. 11-seed Gonzaga in Chicago next Friday. Michael Gbinije and Tyler Lydon led the Orange with 23 and 14 points, respectively, and SU once again pulled away late for a double-digit win in the NCAA Tournament.

Here are three quick observations from Syracuse’s Round of 32 win over the Blue Raiders.

Pulling away

Giddy Potts finally found his stride and the nation’s leading 3-point shooter by percentage knocked down two deep balls to start the second half after going 1-for-3 in the first 20 minutes. But with Syracuse only up two, Michael Gbinije scored seven consecutive points to give the Orange a nine-point lead that never dipped below that.

Gbinije hit two runners in the lane that both softly bounced several times on the rim before falling. Then as Frank Howard dribbled atop the key and motioned with his eyes for Gbinije to go to the corner, the freshman executed a drive-and-kick that Gbinije finished with a contested 3-pointer.

The fifth-year senior finished with a team-high 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting. His 34th consecutive game in double digits was capped off by a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the end of Syracuse’s last possession. He once again guided the Orange to a win, this time one that matches it up with the Bulldogs with only 16 teams left playing.

Heads up

For a 10-minute stretch in the second half, Tyler Roberson sat in between assistants Adrian Autry and Mike Hopkins on the bench with his white NCAA-issued warmup shirt on.

Just before he exited, Roberson knocked his head on the floor after Lydon fell on top of him trying to corral a rebound. Roberson turned over on his butt and grimaced while holding his head before being subbed out.

Until that point, the junior had grabbed nine rebounds and scored 10 points. He made three of his four shots from the field and hit all four foul shots, while dominating the glass a la his rebounding tirade against Dayton.

His rebounds came in a variety of ways – one tipping a ball to himself at the peak of a scrum, one chasing after a loose ball by himself, one mounting Aldonis Foote before holding onto the ball will one hand and untangling the other.

Roberson re-entered with 2:45 remaining and put an exclamation point on Syracuse’s 35-point win by finishing an alley-oop from Malachi Richardson in the final minute while Richardson saluted to the crowd.

Long shot

Middle Tennessee, a team that came in to Sunday 14th in the country in 3-point field-goal percentage, posted a meager 3-for-11 mark from deep in the first half. And despite finishing the game 8-of-24 from behind the arc after a stronger second half, the Orange stymied the Blue Raiders from deep for the majority of the game.

It’s ring leader from beyond the arc, Potts, hit 3-of-6 from deep, but he was stifled by Orange defenders quick to close out when he received the ball beyond the arc.

The Orange did that on most MTSU shooters and while it opened up some gaps for the Blue Raiders to feed inside with only one SU defender in the post, it limited the Blue Raiders in the area it relies on most.

Published on March 20, 2016 at 7:13 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman