clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

NCAA Tournament 2012 Schedule: Syracuse Vs. Kansas State Preview

By Jared Smith

Less than 48 hours after surviving close-calls in its NCAA Tournament second-round contests, the No. 1-seeded Syracuse Orange and No. 8 Kansas St. Wildcats will face off in the third round (12:15 p.m. ET on CBS). The winner will advance to the Sweet 16 to play either No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers or No. 5 Vanderbilt Commodores next week.

On Thursday, both the Orange (32-2) and Wildcats (22-10) literally needed to survive and advance, as Syracuse edged No. 16 UNC-Asheville, 72-65, in a controversial finish, while Kansas State clipped No. 9 Southern Miss. Golden Eagles 70-64.

NCAA Tournament: Saturday's Game Times, TV Schedule

The results helped setup the third ever meeting between the two schools, the last coming in the 1975 NCAA Tournament regional final that featured Syracuse downing Kansas State 95-87. However, March Madness fans maybe anticipating a different outcome Saturday, as the Orange are playing without sophomore center Fab Melo, who was ruled ineligible for the NCAA Tournament by the university on Tuesday, and struggled to pull off a victory against the Bulldogs.

The lack of a 7-foot center wasn't the issues in Syracuse's second-round contest, however, the Orange struggled to find any offensive rhythm settling for 3-point shots, 23 to be exact and they made just five.

Luckily, three of those 3s were made by junior forward James Southerland, who tallied 13 of his team-best 15 points in the second half to help propel the Orange to victory. Southerland also collected eight rebounds, while senior forward Kris Joseph tallied 12 points and eight boards.

Senior point guard Scoop Jardine had improved play in the second half and ended the contest with 11 points and seven assists, and sophomore guard Dion Waiters netted all of his 12 points in the first half.

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Kris Joseph 34 31.7 4.6 10.7 42.6 1.5 4.2 35.0 3.2 4.3 74.5 1.6 3.4 5.0 1.6 1.4 1.4 0.6 1.6 13.8
Dion Waiters 34 24.1 4.6 9.7 48.0 1.1 3.2 35.8 2.1 3.0 69.9 0.5 1.8 2.3 2.6 1.3 1.9 0.4 1.8 12.6
Brandon Triche 34 22.4 3.2 7.8 41.4 1.1 3.4 34.2 1.7 2.1 78.1 1.0 1.5 2.5 2.7 1.3 1.1 0.1 1.3 9.3
C.J. Fair 34 26.3 3.1 6.9 45.7 0.2 0.7 26.1 2.0 2.6 75.6 2.0 3.5 5.4 1.0 0.8 1.1 0.5 1.4 8.5
Scoop Jardine 34 24.5 3.3 7.0 46.8 0.9 2.6 34.4 0.9 1.8 52.5 0.4 1.9 2.3 4.8 2.2 1.4 0.1 0.9 8.4
Fabricio Melo 30 25.4 3.3 5.8 56.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.3 2.0 63.3 2.7 3.2 5.8 0.7 1.4 0.5 2.9 2.8 7.8
James Southerland 34 16.2 2.6 5.7 45.9 1.0 3.1 32.4 0.6 0.9 69.0 0.9 2.2 3.1 0.4 0.4 0.9 0.9 1.3 6.8
Mookie Jones 7 5.4 0.9 3.1 27.3 0.7 2.4 29.4 0.4 0.7 60.0 0.1 0.4 0.6 0.4 0.1 0.7 0.0 0.1 2.9
Michael Carter-Williams 26 10.3 1.0 2.2 43.1 0.3 0.7 38.9 0.5 0.9 56.5 0.3 1.1 1.5 2.1 0.6 0.8 0.3 1.0 2.7
Rakeem Christmas 34 10.7 1.1 1.9 55.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.8 57.1 1.1 1.7 2.8 0.2 0.6 0.3 0.7 1.6 2.6
Baye Moussa Keita 32 11.7 0.9 1.2 76.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.7 68.2 0.9 1.3 2.3 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.9 1.8 2.3
Matt Tomaszewski 10 1.9 0.5 0.9 55.6 0.4 0.7 57.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.3 1.4
Albert Nassar 2 1.0 0.5 0.5 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
Brandon Reese 13 1.5 0.1 0.6 12.5 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.4 0.5 71.4 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.5
Griffin Hoffmann 9 0.9 0.1 0.3 33.3 0.1 0.3 33.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.3
Matt Lyde-Cajuste 9 1.1 0.1 0.1 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.2
Nick Resavy 11 1.4 0.1 0.4 25.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2
Russ DeRemer 3 1.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0
Nolan Hart 2 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Meanwhile, Kansas State used a game-best 30 points from junior guard Rodney McGruder to sneak past Southern Miss. McCruder finished the contest 11-for-16 from the field and 2-for-5 from behind the 3-point arc. However, take out McGruder and the Wildcats were 0-for-7 from behind the 3-point line and shot just 10-for-26 from the field.

Junior forward Jordan Henriquez tallied 15 points and nine rebounds, while freshman guard Angel Rodriguez netted 13 points.

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Rodney McGruder 32 32.8 5.7 12.3 46.6 1.6 4.0 39.1 2.9 3.6 80.0 2.3 3.0 5.3 1.4 1.5 1.2 0.3 1.8 15.9
Jamar Samuels 30 26.5 3.1 6.9 44.7 0.6 1.8 32.7 3.2 4.7 68.6 2.7 3.9 6.6 1.4 1.8 0.9 0.7 3.2 10.0
Will Spradling 32 31.1 2.8 7.7 36.2 1.4 4.3 33.1 2.3 2.8 82.0 0.4 1.7 2.1 2.8 1.7 0.8 0.2 2.6 9.3
Angel Rodriguez 31 21.4 2.5 6.8 36.5 1.0 3.0 31.9 2.2 3.3 67.6 0.5 1.9 2.4 3.2 2.6 1.3 0.0 2.7 8.2
Jordan Henriquez-Roberts 31 19.9 2.7 4.9 55.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.9 3.5 56.1 2.0 3.4 5.4 0.6 1.5 0.2 2.5 2.4 7.4
Thomas Gipson 32 17.1 2.6 5.2 50.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.8 3.2 54.4 1.8 2.8 4.6 0.8 1.4 0.2 0.3 2.1 7.0
Martavious Irving 30 19.0 2.1 4.6 45.7 0.6 1.8 35.8 0.8 1.1 70.6 0.3 1.4 1.7 1.5 1.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 5.6
Adrian Diaz 22 10.4 1.4 2.5 57.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 1.2 46.2 1.5 0.9 2.5 0.4 1.0 0.0 0.5 1.5 3.4
Shane Southwell 31 17.1 1.2 3.3 37.6 0.2 0.8 24.0 0.7 0.9 75.0 0.6 1.7 2.3 2.1 1.3 0.4 0.4 1.1 3.3
Jeremy Jones 19 8.4 1.2 2.6 46.0 0.5 1.3 37.5 0.3 0.5 60.0 0.1 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.2 0.1 0.6 3.2
Nino Williams 12 6.2 0.6 1.8 33.3 0.2 0.9 18.2 0.8 1.1 76.9 0.5 1.6 2.1 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 1.1 2.2
Victor Ojeleye 29 6.8 0.5 1.1 43.8 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 60.0 0.5 0.9 1.4 0.1 0.6 0.1 0.1 0.7 1.1
Omari Lawrence 9 2.2 0.2 0.4 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 50.0 0.2 0.4 0.7 0.2 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.6
Shawn Meyer 4 1.5 0.3 0.5 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.5
Brian Rohleder 8 1.9 0.1 0.3 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.6 0.1 0.8 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.3
James Watson 1 3.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

The key to victory for both teams will be offensive flow and rebounding. For the Orange to be successful, they will need to control the offensive tempo forcing a faster pace, while the Wildcats are going to want to slow things down.

To do that, Kansas State will need to continue is domination on the boards -- the Wildcats fished tops in the Big 12 Conference -- and take advance of open 3-point shots against Syracuse's 2-3 zone defense.

Syracuse enters the game as 5-point favorites.

NCAA Tournament: Syracuse Orange Need To Go Red - NunesMagician.com (via nunesmagician)

For a breakdown of Syracuse vs. Kansas State, check back to this SB Nation New York StoryStream.

For more on the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket stick with SB Nation's NCAA Tournament hub for a complete printable NCAA Tournament bracket and tons of analysis on every March Madness game.

Check out the SB Nation Channel on YouTube

In This Stream

Syracuse In NCAA Tournament: Orange's Dramatic Season Ends, SU Falls To Ohio State, 77-70

View all 20 stories