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INDIANAPOLIS — Syracuse is back in the Sweet 16 for the third time in five years and plays Houston at 9:55 p.m. ET in Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The Orange upset both San Diego State and West Virginia to make it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament but will now face their toughest of the season: the No. 2 seed Cougars. Houston has won nine straight games entering the Sweet 16 and ranks top 15 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The Cougars and Orange have only met one other time, in 1982, when Syracuse upset Houston’s “Phi Slama Jama” team that featured Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.

The winner of this game will play No. 12 seed Oregon State in the Elite Eight on Monday night. The Beavers upset Loyola Chicago 65-58 in the first game of the Saturday quadruple-header.

Our men’s basketball beat writer Anthony Dabbundo will be providing game updates below, along with sights and sounds from inside Hinkle Fieldhouse. If you have any questions, feel free to reach him on Twitter at @AnthonyDabbundo.

What else you should know about Syracuse-Houston:

• Joe Girard’s postseason improvements fly under radar in Syracuse backcourt
  
• The NBA buzz around Buddy Boeheim’s superstar March
  
• No. 11 Syracuse defied odds again. So how far can the Orange go?
  
• Beat writer Q&A: Houston Chronicle’s Joseph Duarte previews SU-Houston
  
• Jesse Edwards still isn’t ready to become SU’s starting center, but he’s almost there
  
• Beat writers disagree about whether SU will beat Houston
  

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12:12 a.m. – FINAL: Houston 62, Syracuse 46

Syracuse’s up-and-down regular season followed by a great seven-game March run comes to an end in the Sweet 16. Syracuse’s offense finishes the game 14-of-50 from the field and 5-of-23 from 3. It was never that close after the Cougars’ 10-0 run to end the first half. As the Cougars walk off the court, the entire UH fan section chants “defense.” Syracuse finishes March with a 5-2 record and four wins against NCAA Tournament teams. The Cougars won the rebounding battle 40-31, too.

12:04 a.m. — Houston 57, Syracuse 43

Syracuse calls a timeout and now trails by 15. The game is over, but the Cougars defense deserves plenty of credit for shutting down a red-hot Syracuse offense. The Cougars fans shout “defense” throughout the entire Syracuse timeout and sometimes  chant it even when the Cougars are on offense following a big stop. This is the Cougars identity, and it’s a bad matchup for the Orange tonight.

11:59 p.m. — Under 4, Houston 53, Syracuse 43

A huge swing there for Syracuse. Quincy Guerrier has the ball stolen from him with a chance to cut the game to 6, and the Houston crowd erupts seconds later after a Cougars and-1 basket and a foul on Joe Girard III. Both Gerry McNamara and Jim Boeheim weren’t happy with Girard for leaving his feet. Instead of six, the lead is 10 and maybe 11. With less than four minutes to go and an ineffective press thus far, this is steep hill to climb. SU is 4-of-20 from 3.

11:45 p.m. – Under 8, Houston 48, Syracuse 39

The Orange have again gotten into the bonus early in the half as Quentin Grimes and DeJon Jarreau both pick up their third fouls in the same possession. The Orange trailed by 10 at half and now trail by nine, so they haven’t done enough to cut into this lead. Free throws are a good way to do that, as SU is 11-of-15 from the line tonight and 78.2% for the year, which is 16th best in the nation. Jesse Edwards and Buddy Boeheim both lead the Orange in rebounds, with six each, and it’s not why Syracuse is losing this game. They trail by one on the glass.

11:34 p.m. – Under 12, Houston 43, Syracuse 37

Jesse Edwards has been massive in the middle for the Orange. Boeheim has gone with his best rebounding front court in Quincy Guerrier, Marek Dolezaj and Edwards for large stretches tonight. Boeheim has consistently remarked that Edwards hasn’t been ready to contribute big minutes. He’s had his bad games but is certainly contributing against the Cougars tonight, with four rebounds, three points and a block.

11:23 p.m. — Under 16, Houston 39, Syracuse 27

Joe Girard III hit a 3 that seemed to spark the Syracuse offense, but the Cougars have seemed to have an answer each time that SU looks to close the gap. Syracuse needs Jesse Edwards more in this game, and it looks like he’ll be checking in after the timeout. DeJon Jarreau certainly doesn’t look injured for Houston, as he has corralled Buddy Boeheim and added four points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Cougars. Buddy needs to get going offensively for the Orange to get back into this.

10:57 p.m. — HALF, Houston 30, Syracuse 20

The half was definitely played how Houston would like it. Syracuse goes without a basket in the final seven minutes of the half, and the Cougars end it on a 10-0 run. Buddy Boeheim has just one field goal on seven attempts and six total points.

Three defining stats:

1. Shot attempt total: Houston 35, Syracuse 24

2. Rebounds is 23-18 Houston, not as much of an advantage as the numbers suggest it could have been

3. Syracuse is 1-of-10 from 3. 3s got them to the Sweet 16, and only better shooting will save them

10:42 p.m. — Under 4, Houston 23, Syracuse 20: Houston dominating shot totals as expected

Houston has attempted 30 shots to Syracuse’s 20 because SU is struggling to rebound. No team in the NCAA gets more shots per possession than the Cougars, who are able to survive a 5-of-16 shooting night from 3 so far. Syracuse is just 1-of-8 from 3, and Buddy Boeheim has made 1-of-5 from the field but 4-of-5 from the line. Neither team is shooting well, but the flow of the game has generally favored Houston.

10:35 p.m. – Houston 20, Syracuse 20: Jesse Edwards and Kadary Richmond provide spark off bench

It took Jesse Edwards nearly the entire season to break into the SU rotation, but they need him tonight against this physical Houston front-line. The 7-foot center had pulled in two rebounds and three points so far and helped Syracuse’s defense on the interior. It also allows Marek Dolezaj to play his more natural spot as a forward, not a center. Kadary Richmond has helped at the top of the 2-3 zone and has been able to penetrate the Houston defense. The increased depth of Syracuse this year in March has enabled them to play eight different players at least 10 minutes in a postseason game for the first time in eight seasons.

10:27 p.m. – Houston 17, Syracuse 13: Orange need to take advantage of foul rate

As good as the Houston defense is, they are vulnerable to picking up fouls. They do plenty of hand-checking, play a physical style of defense and have the 332nd best defensive free-throw rate in the country. Houston already has five fouls in 12 minutes and has now turned it over on three possessions in a row after not turning it over in the first 10 minutes of the game. The insertion of Kadary Richmond at the top of the 2-3 zone has helped prevent easy entry looks into the high post, and he has a basket and early assist at the other end.

10:15 p.m. – Under 12: Houston 15, Syracuse 5: Foul trouble has arrived for both teams

Both Marek Dolezaj and Quentin Grimes have two fouls each for Syracuse and Houston, and that’s a big miss for both teams. Jesse Edwards is in the game now for Dolezaj, and Grimes is the leading scorer for Houston. The Cougars are getting much cleaner looks offensively than the Orange, though, and their defense is taking SU out of its offensive rhythm. Houston leads 15-5 thanks to three 3s. Ten points is the largest deficit of the tournament for Syracuse.

10:06 p.m. — Under 16: Houston 5, Syracuse 2. 

The Orange’s offense started similarly as they did in this arena eight days ago against San Diego State. Jim Boeheim has shown less and less leeway with Alan Griffin as the season has gone on, and Griffin gets hooked after one minute and an airball. Quentin Grimes is frustrating Buddy Boeheim and trying to deny him the ball everywhere. Marcus Sasser made a long-range 3, but I think SU will live with that all night, as he’s a 32.7% 3-point shooter.

There may be less than 2,000 fans, but it sure does feel loud inside Hinkle. This building amplifies sound really well.

9:59 p.m. – Dabbundo’s 3 keys to the game: 

Rebound, rebound, rebound: The biggest mismatch in this game is Syracuse’s defensive rebounding against the Cougars’ offensive rebounding. No team in the country averages more field goal attempts per 100 possessions than Houston, because Houston is No. 2 in offensive rebounding rate.

Boeheim vs. Grimes: Buddy Boeheim and Quentin Grimes are two of the hottest shooters in the country. Both are north of 45% from 3 down the stretch run of the season. Grimes is a junior transfer from Kansas who the zone will have to mark. Whichever player outduels the other could decide the winner.

DeJon Jarreau’s health: Jarreau is the most important player for UH, according to head coach Kelvin Sampson. He left the first game early after one minute with a hip injury. He played through injury on Sunday in the comeback win against Rutgers. His health is a major key in this game, and Sampson said he’d be 70-75%, while Jarreau said he felt mostly fine in practice this week.

9:50 p.m. – One security guard, Greg, has seen every team who’s playing at Hinkle this weekend (Baylor, Villanova, Syracuse, Houston, Creighton, Gonzaga, Alabama and UCLA) practice in the last two days. He said no shooter impressed him more from the perimeter than “No. 35 on Syracuse.” He joked that he told the Syracuse players coming in at the security check that if they Orange rebound tonight, they’ll win.

9:43 p.m. – Syracuse head football coach Dino Babers is here and talking with SU fans before taking his seat in the first row of Section 217.

9:35 p.m. – The Orange have taken the court for their final warm-up shootaround before the game. The two main Syracuse sections are opposite each other in the Fieldhouse, both behind and across from the Orange’s bench. Syracuse definitely has the majority of fans in the building, about 60-65% by my estimate.

9:30 p.m. — Moonya Reszytniak is an SU student from Albany and the girlfriend of Joe Girard III. She made the trip to Indianapolis with Arleen Girard, Joe’s mom. Arleen brought 100 Orange rally towels on the plane with her, and she’s now passing them out to Orange fans in the arena. They also have a large Orange flag with a blue block “S” logo.

9:10 p.m. – Four Orange fans from Syracuse couldn’t attend last weekend, but they said they couldn’t miss the Sweet 16. They made the 10-hour drive from Syracuse to Indianapolis with a one-night stop in Ohio on the way. I asked all four what the turning point in the season was when they realized the Orange might be turning the corner. Sean, the chaperone of the group who drove the whole way, said the win against North Carolina because the Orange had done so poorly against the Tar Heels in recent years. Leo said that the near win against Virginia in the ACC tournament was the moment he realized the Orange were turning the corner.

“The NCAA Tournament is all about matchups,” Sean said.

9:00 p.m. – Syracuse players are going through warm-ups, with Buddy Boeheim, Joe Girard III, Alan Griffin and Kadary Richmond stretching out at mid-court as the forwards and centers warm up with low-post moves, floaters and dunks. Fans were let into the building at 8:50 p.m. There’s about 1,750 ticketed fans expected in attendance, per a security official outside the arena. The total capacity, including event staff, media and teams, is not to exceed 2,500 people. Joe Girard II and friend Mike Valenti made the flight from Albany last night to watch the Orange, while other fans have come from Missouri, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Ohio to make the trip to Indianapolis for the Sweet 16.

8:30 p.m. – The Syracuse players, coaches and staff, led by Jim Boeheim, exit the buses and enter Hinkle Fieldhouse to prepare for the Orange’s 9:55 p.m. tip-off with Houston. All of the Orange’s traveling group is masked, and because of social distancing rules, all teams are spread out among three buses to travel to stadiums across Indianapolis for games.

Published on March 27, 2021 at 8:29 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo