NCAA tournament: No. 5-seeded Butler knocks off No. 1 Syracuse, 63-59
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Butler has reached uncharted territory.
The Bulldogs, viewed as a pesky mid-major team for years, reached a new level of annoyance, sending Syracuse home with a 63-59 victory in the NCAA tournament Thursday. It advanced Butler to its first regional final.
A nip-and-tuck game turned on Willie Veasley’s three-pointer from the corner, which went in and out and back in. It gave the Bulldogs (31-4) a 58-54 lead with 1 minute 40 seconds left. Moments later, Veasley tipped in a miss for a 60-54 lead with one minute left.
From there, it was a matter of making free throws. Gordon Hayward made three to eliminate the Orange (30-5).
Syracuse, which trailed from the start, finally took the lead with an 8-0 burst midway through the second half. Wes Johnson accented the spurt, first by ramming home a dunk off an inbound play, then by dropping a three-pointer for a 40-39 lead with 13:29 left in the game.
There was a lot of scrapping from that point, and the Bulldogs proved to be better at it. Syracuse led, 54-50, with five minutes left. But a three-pointer by Ronald Nored and layup by Matt Howard gave Butler a 55-54 lead.
The victory sends Butler into Saturday’s West Regional final against the winner of Xavier and Kansas State.
Butler Coach Brad Stevens has refused to call his team overachievers.
“If people want to think that about our team, that’s OK,” Stevens said. “We hope we’ve earned the respect of opponents that we play, so that they feel when they walk into the gym, they’re going to have to beat us. We’re not going to beat ourselves.”
Butler disrupted Syracuse from the moment the two teams took the court and led, 35-25, at halftime. The Orange’s first 10 possessions resulted in four missed shots, five turnovers and one free throw.
Syracuse had 12 turnovers in the first half, with Butler getting nine steals.
The Orange’s first field goal came seven minutes into the game, when Rick Jackson scored on a layup seven minutes into the game. By then, the Bulldogs gad a 12-3 lead and were able to keep the Orange at an arm’s length throughout the half.
When the Orange appeared to be getting some traction, Shelvin Mack handled things, scoring nine consecutive points to keep Butler moving forward. Mack, who had all 14 of his points in the first half, found a soft spot in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, dropping three consecutive jumpers from the free-throw line.
Hayward finished with 17 points and Veasley 13.
Johnson had 17 points to lead Syracuse.
-- Chris Foster, reporting from Salt Lake City, Utah
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