Syracuse Advances To Play Dayton Tonight

The Syracuse Orange will meet the Dayton Flyers tonight at 7:10 after both advanced following victories in the NCAA men's basketball tournament on Thursday.  Syracuse defeated Western Michigan  77-53 while Dayton edged the Ohio State Buckeyes 60-59.

Syracuse upped its record to 28-5 after its win.  C.J. Fair leads the Orange in scoring with a 16.6 points per game average.  Dayton is 24-10 and is paced by Jordan Sibert who is scoring at a 12.4 points per game average.  The Flyers play plenty of people and love to run.  That could pose some major challenges for Syracuse trying to get back in their vaunted 2-3 zone defense off transition.

Both teams played in the Maui Classic over the holidays.  Baylor defeated Dayton and then Syracuse topped Baylor to win the tournament.  If Dayton would have defeated Baylor we would be talking re-match tonight.  On the line tonight is a berth in the Sweet 16.