Just one victory gave the university a priceless amount of publicity. Two gives them another week in the spotlight.
“This is the type of publicity you hope your sports programs can bring to the institution,” Wabler said before the game. “It just helps with that national presence.”
Wabler praised the job third-year coach Archie Miller did in getting the season back on track after a mid-season slump of five losses in six games.
“I’ve been very impressed with Archie for three years,” Wabler said. “The transition with having to get 12 scholarships in 18 months, he had to work through that whole issue with us. Bringing in the right kids while at the same time building a program and making sure he gets a couple transfers that can really make it work for him, that was the plan when he came in. He executed that plan unbelievably.
“He really never gets too high. He never gets too low. He really just stays the course. He realizes what he has to do next.”
Halftime recap: No one expected the halftime score. The Flyers led 20-18 in what was easily the combined lowest-scoring half of the season for Dayton. The Flyers matched their season low for a half and topped their season-best defensive performance for a half by one point.
Vee Sanford, picking up right where he left off after the buzzer-beater against Ohio State, scored six points and hit a basket to put the Flyers back on top in the final minutes just after the Orange took their first and only lead of the half. Dyshawn Pierre also had six points.
Dayton shot 8-of-23 from the field, often taking 25-30 seconds off the shot clock as it worked to solve Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense. The Orange shot 7-of-23 from the field and missed all five of their 3-pointers.
C.J. Fair scored six points for Syracuse, which played only six players in the half.
Boeheim's reaction: Syracuse started the season 25-0 and slumped late to finish 28-6. The Orange lost to an A-10 opponent for the first time since 2007 (Rhode Island). They failed to make a 3-pointer (0-for-10) for the first time in a game since 1995.
“Well, when you make shots, you win,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “When you don’t make shots, you lose in close games. Early in the year, we made shots. Obviously Tyler (Ennis) made a 40-footer at Pittsburgh. But in other games, we won seven straight close games early in the year. We made some shots. It was different people. Tyler made some. C.J. (Fair) made some. Jerami Grant made a couple. But we made shots.”
Syracuse had been 14-0 when holding opponents under 60 points until this game.
“In tonight’s game, we had shots,” Boeheim said. “We got stops when we had to. Made a couple of great defensive plays down there to get stops. Made a great play on our press to get them to step out of bounds. So we made defensive plays that we needed to make, but we didn’t make a shot when we had to.”
Final shot: Ennis led the Orange with 19 points, but he shot 7-of-21 from the field and missed his last two shots, one with eight seconds left and one at the buzzer.
Of the last shot, Boeheim said, “That was a good shot. I have no problem with that shot. Some of his other jump shots were not good decisions.”
Miller's reaction: Dayton coach Archie Miller talked after the game about what the Sweet 16 berth means to the history of the program. It's the first time since 1984 Dayton has advanced this far.
“I’m happy for the institution,” he said. “I’m happy for our fans. When I say great tradition, there’s a lot of people that have been going to our arena 20, 30, 40 years, who have seen great moments. We’ve had good teams, and there’s been good players that have come through, but we haven’t been able to break through consistently in a long time.”
A-10 struggles: Of the six Atlantic 10 teams to make the tournament, only Dayton and Saint Louis advanced to the third round. With No. 5 seed Saint Louis losing 66-51 to No. 4 seed Louisville in Orlando on Saturday, the Flyers are now the A-10's last hope.
Virginia Commonwealth had the most surprising early exit for an A-10 team. The No. 5 seed Rams lost 77-75 in overtime to No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin on Friday.
“Looks like we’re carrying the torch for the conference,” said UD Assistant Athletic Director Michael LaPlaca before the game.
Canadian connection: When they played the Canadian National anthem before the game – followed by the Star Spangled Banner – Dayton forward Dyshawn Pierre and Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis both stood especially erect. Pierre placed his hand over his heart.
Both players grew up in Ontario, just 45 minutes apart, and played for the same AAU team, the CIA Bounce, that was co-founded by Ennis’s dad
“It’s a little bit different playing against guys you know,” Ennis said on the eve of the game. “It just shows Canada is on the rise. The generation before us just kind of opened our eyes and told us that we could play on this level. And it goes to show that we have so many players playing in the tournament still and being key players. It just shows we have talent.”
Ennis’s brother, Dylan, plays for Villanova, who met UConn in the second game here Saturday night. According to Canada Basketball, 27 Canadian players were in the NCAA Tournament field this year.
Cuse connection: UD assistant coach Allen Griffin played for Syracuse, was captain of the team his senior season (2000-01) and later, coach Jim Boeheim added him to his staff as an administrative assistant.
“I know someplace on him he’s got on something orange,” a smiling Boeheim had said Friday. “It’s not going to be in view, but his heart will be for sure. He’s a great kid, a great Syracuse kid. He’s as good as we’ve ever had. He’s a great, great kid.”
Although Griffin admitted that when the game ends he may walk over to the Syracuse sideline and give Boeheim a hug, he said, “Right now I bleed red and blue.”
He accessorized that point Saturday night with a red tie and blue dress shirt.
Syracuse assistant coach Adrian Autry was nearly a Flyer . He had been coaching at Virginia Tech and was set to join Archie Miller’s first coaching staff at UD in the spring of 2010. Then a position opened up at Syracuse and he opted to become part of Boeheim’s staff.
That opened the door for Griffin, then at Hofstra, to come to Dayton.
The other day here Autry tried to close that door.
When he spotted Griffin scouting the Orange’s game with Western Michigan, he said he came over with a teasing suggestion:
“I told him, ‘Why don’t you go home?’”
(Note: Tom Archdeacon contributed to this story.)
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