Syracuse took down North Carolina-Greensboro, 90-77, in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday night in the Carrier Dome. The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday but postponed due to snowstorm Stella.

The No. 1 seed Orange (19-14, 10-8 Atlantic Coast) took a 10-point halftime lead over the No. 8 seed Spartans (25-10, 14-4 Southern) and cruised to the 13-point win. SU will next host No. 5 seed Mississippi in the Round of 16 on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Here are three reactions from the game.

Nonconference redemption

A key reason Syracuse missed out on the NCAA Tournament is because of its “bad losses” to Connecticut, Georgetown and St. John’s in the nonconference portion of its schedule. The Orange went 8-5 in nonconference play this year, the first time ever under head coach Jim Boeheim that SU lost five non-league games.

After dealing with the ACC schedule since the start of 2017, considered by most to be the toughest conference in the country, Syracuse got a chance to blow off steam from the disappointment of missing the Tournament.

Boeheim said on Monday that UNCG is as good as any team the Orange would face in the Tournament, where it wouldn’t face a conference opponent until at least the Sweet 16 if SU was in it. But getting redemption for nonconference games in the postseason only means so much when it comes in the NIT.

White still carrying offense

While Syracuse’s games no longer have an NCAA Tournament at-large bid on the line, Andrew White still carried the Orange’s scoring output. He scored 19 points in the first half on 4-of-5 shots from behind the 3-point line. No one else on SU scored in double digits before halftime.

White transferred from Nebraska for his final year of eligibility and led Syracuse in scoring entering Wednesday with 18 points per game. He impressed again and his made 3-pointers were one of the only things that lifted the slim Dome crowd to its feet on a regular basis.

He finished with 34 points, his second most in a game this season, on 7-of-9 shooting from three.

Not In Tournament

With Syracuse missing the NCAA Tournament and accepting the NIT’s bid on Sunday night, the short notice and snowstorm Stella certainly affected Wednesday’s attendance, which was announced at 4,288. At opening tip, 17 students occupied the student section. The drop-off was a significant one from the Orange’s season average of 22,682.

Prior to the game, three fans sat up in the upper deck of the Dome — one because he wanted to find a quiet spot for a video conference for his occupation while the two others wanted to sit where their season tickets are during the regular season. Season ticket locations were not honored since it was a tournament game.

Dome staff members said finding people to work security and as ushers was a slight problem since the game was only scheduled two days before Tuesday, when the game was originally planned for until it got postponed to Wednesday.

When Syracuse approached 70 points, students chanted “We want tacos!” and once let out a “We want a new selection committee,” a jeer at SU missing the NCAA Tournament.

Published on March 15, 2017 at 9:08 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds