No. 6 seed Syracuse was on upset alert until the final minutes of Saturday’s NCAA tournament opener against No. 11 Arizona.
Then Dyaisha Fair took over.
The All-ACC guard went on a personal 11-0 run in the late stages of the fourth quarter to secure a 74-69 win for Syracuse, the program’s first NCAA tournament win since 2021. The win denied Arizona a fifth-straight trip to the second round of tournament play.
The Wildcats put the Orange on upset alert early, opening up a 21-15 lead in the first quarter. They led 37-32 at halftime before Syracuse fought back to tie things up in the third. The teams entered the fourth tied at 51-51 and engaged in a back-and-forth battle down the stretch.
With Syracuse trailing, 66-65 in the final two minutes Fair pulled up for a transition 3-pointer to put the Orange back on top.
An offensive foul on the other end secured possession for the Orange.
The result was another Fair bucket to extend Syracuse’s lead to 70-66. Two free throws on Syrcause’s ensuing possession extended that lead again to 72-66 with 32 seconds remaining.
When the game was done, Fair scored the last 13 points for Syracuse in a 32-point effort. She shot 11 of 22 from the field including a 4-of-11 effort from 3-point distance. Fair flustered Arizona on defense as well, tallying a game-high 6 steals as the Orange turned the Wildcats over 21 times.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
