Syracuse 81 - Montana 34: Tinkle, Failure, C.J. Fair, Spry

So, uh, that was much easier than we expected to be.

The Syracuse Orange might have had the easiest day of any team in the 2013 NCAA Tournament on Thursday, absolutely decimating the Montana Grizzlies 81-34 in a game that ceased to be competitive about ten minutes in.

C.J. Fair got the Orange off on the right foot on offense, the team seemed to clamp down on defense rather quickly and they never looked back or gave Montana any breathing room. It was basically everything we knew this team was capable of doing to a lesser opponent but weren't sure they had it in them. They do.

Trevor Cooney dunked. It was that kind of evening.

Brandon Triche finished with 20 points, Fair finished with 13 points, DaJuan Coleman (!) scored 12 points and Michael Carter-Williams dished out nine assists. The Orange shot 45% from three-point range (5-11) and 52% overall. Not much Monty could do against that.

The Orange will now face-off against the 12-seed California Golden Bears, who defeated the 5-seed UNLV Running Rebels earlier in the evening. If the game is any indication, the Bears will not be able to beat SU from the free-throw line. So, that's a plus.

Plenty more to discuss tomorrow but in the meantime, be thankful you didn't have to worry for very long (once the game finally started) and the Orange live to see another game.

G'ORANGE!

Hi, Seth Davis.