Marquette joins UW in the Sweet Sixteen

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CLEVELAND - Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin are both in the NCAA men’s Sweet-Sixteen for the first time since 2003. The Badgers punched their ticket on Saturday night, and Marquette did the same last night with a 66-62 third-round upset of third-seeded Syracuse in the East Regional in Cleveland.

Darius Johnson-Odom won it by hitting a tie-breaking three-pointer with 25-point-one seconds left. Syracuse set the stage for that play with a backcourt violation on an inbounds pass – one of 18 turnovers the Orange committed. Syracuse went up by 10 early, but trailed by three at the half. The Orange went up by five later on, but Marquette’s speed and quickness kept them in the game. Johnson-Odom scored 17 points, as the Golden Eagles made 19-of-23 free throws compared to just 5-of-7 for Syracuse.

Marquette improved to 22-and-14, and will play second-seeded North Carolina on Friday night in the regional semi-finals in Newark, New Jersey. It’s the first time in eight years the Golden Eagles made the Round-of-16. That was when Dwayne Wade got them to the Final Four. Syracuse is making its second straight surprise early exit. The Orange were a number-one seed last year before bowing out to Butler in the Sweet-16 round.

Butler will play Wisconsin on Thursday night in a Southeast Regional semi-final in New Orleans. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m.

Tags: wisconsin sports, proam, basketball, marquette