SAN JOSE, Calif.— It’s their last chance to add to their Big East legacy and the Syracuse Orange seem determined to make the most of it. Their journey toward the Final Four continued Saturday night with a 66-60 victory over the 12th-seeded Cal Bears.
The victory sends Syracuse to the East Region semifinal in Washington D.C. where they’ll meet the winner of Sunday’s game in Dayton between top-seeded Indiana and ninth-seeded Temple.
“This means a lot,” said Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams. “We’ve worked hard for this moment. But we want to keep winning and winning. Our expectations are higher than the Sweet 16.”
Syracuse (28-9) led throughout the game, but struggled with its free-throw shooting down the stretch, missing four straight at one point. Still they enjoyed a huge advantage at the free-throw line, making 26-of-41 to 12-of-19 for Cal. Syracuse scored just six field goals in the second half as 22 of its 34 second-half points came on free throws.
“Missing free throws kind of was contagious,” C.J. Fair said. “Luckily we made enough to pull the game out.”
Fair led Syracuse with 18 points, while James Southerland added 14 for the Orange. Cal (21-12) got 20 points from junior forward Richard Solomon. Pac-12 player of the year Allen Crabbe scored just 8 points, well below his scoring average of 18.7 points per game.
“We knew we had to shut him down to win the game,” Carter-Williams said of Crabbe, who was just 3-of-9 from the field. “We made him second guess himself a little bit.”
The HP Pavilion was filled with a sellout crowd of 18,030. It was mostly Bears fans. But it wasn’t much of a factor. Syracuse nursed a 32-24 lead at halftime thanks mainly to their three-point shooting and dominance under the glass. They made 4-of-7 from long range in the half, but grabbed 19 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end, to convert 12 second-chance points.
They were up 32-20 when Southerland nailed a three-pointer from the right wing. But Southerland picked up his third foul with 25.5 seconds left in the half, putting him in early foul trouble. He would eventually foul out late in the second half.
Cal tried to stay patient against the Syracuse zone defense, but fell into the trap of firing three-pointers where the Bears made just 1-of-8 in the first half and 4 of 21 for the game. The Bears shot just 39.3 percent from the field and committed 17 turnovers.
“That zone hurt us. There’s no question,” said Cal coach Mike Montgomery. “We had a difficult time solving the zone.”
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said, “We did a good job early of getting back and deflecting passes or stealing passes. We had great defensive movement.”
When Fair made two free throws with 16 minutes left, the Orange was up 39-29. More troublesome for Cal, it got into foul problems quickly in the second half. With 15:30 remaining, the Bears had been whistled for six fouls to none for Syracuse. That led to the Orange shooting 36 free throws in the second half.
“They shoot 41 foul shots, that’s a lot to overcome,” Montgomery said.
Cal had its chances to get back in the game. The Bears closed to 47-39 after sophomore forward David Kravish made two free throws with 6:23 remaining. That’s when the crowd came alive.
But Southerland and Carter-Williams made layups and Southerland made two free throws to put Syracuse up 56-44 with 3:35 to play. Cal cut the Syracuse lead to 58-51 with 1:50 to go. But key buckets by Southerland and Keita sent the Orange to the Sweet 16.
“I knew once they started to make it close, we needed to respond,” Carter-Williams said. “We didn’t want to let their momentum build too much.”