Just minutes after VCU advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, Marquette made it a two-fer, knocking off Syracuse with some late-game heroics. The Golden Eagles had the Orange on the ropes for much of the game, scratching and clawing to keep Syracuse at bay and give themselves a shot at the win. With time running out, Darius Johnson-Odom buried a straight-away three to break the tie and put Marquette up three with less than a minute to go.
Johnson-Odom’s three was set up by another head-scratching mistake by Syracuse as Scoop Jardine was called for a questionable over-and-back call on an inbounds pass. Jardine tried to walk the tight-rope, but stepped into the backcourt, giving Marquette the ball back and setting up Johnson-Odom’s heroics.
Despite a late scramble in an attempt to fight back, Syracuse was unable to narrow the gap as Marquette advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with a 66-62 win.
Johnson-Odom led the way for the Eagles with a team-high 17 points. Dion Waiters led all scorers with 18 points for the Orange.
Marquette moves on to face UNC in the Sweet Sixteen. The Tar Heels defeated Washington in a thriller earlier on Sunday, 88-86.
Here’s a look at the full East region bracket. A printable bracket with the latest updates can be found at SB Nation.
No. 1 Ohio State def. No. 8 George Mason, 98-66
No. 4 Kentucky def. No. 5 WVU, 71-63
No. 2 UNC def. No. 7 Washington, 86-83
No. 11 Marquette def. No. 3 Syracuse, 66-62
For the full television lineup, check out our March Madness schedule in the Daily Drip. Be sure to check back in with our NCAA Tournament results StoryStream for updates throughout the day.