Looking back at some memorable Syracuse men’s basketball NCAA Tournament first round games

The Syracuse Orange aren’t in action today but we can’t spend St. Patrick’s Day crying in our green beer. Let’s take a look back at some memorable Syracuse NCAA Tournament first round games.

• 1957: First NCAA game for the Orange as Gary Clark and Vin Cohen combine for 50 points to lead Syracuse past UConn in Madison Square Garden.
• 1966: Jim Boeheim’s first NCAA game as a player results in a 94-78 win over Davidson in Raleigh. Boeheim scores 14 points on 7-9 shooting while Dave Bing scores 20 points to go with 12 rebounds and 8 assists.
• 1975: The Orange go on the road to knock off LaSalle 87-83 in overtime. Jim Lee, Rudy Hackett and Chris Sease combine for 68 of the 87 points to kick off Syracuse’s first Final Four run
• 1987: The 2nd-seed Syracuse squad is trailing at home to Georgia Southern at the half. The Orange rally for a six-point win to advance. A fun fact from this one: Syracuse shot 5-10 from 3 in the game while Georgia Southern was 6-6 from beyond the arc.

• 1996: Syracuse is sent out West and at the half are only up 4 points on Montana State. A 50-point second half propels the Orange to an easy 88-55 win. Five Syracuse players score in double-figures with Otis Hill getting 17 in only 22 minutes of action.
• 2004: People wondered how Syracuse would fare without Carmelo Anthony around so Gerry McNamara went out and dropped 43 points on BYU. This remains the Syracuse NCAA record as Gerry shot 9-13 from 3 and 12-16 from the line. Rumor has it this is what inspired the Cougars to grab Jimmer Fredette several years later.

• 2013: After Seth Davis predicts the Orange to lose, the team goes out and beats Montana 81-34. Great expert prediction.

What are some of your good memories of Syracuse opening round games?