Malachi Richardson smiled as he ran up the court while making circles around his eyes with his hands. Houston was right there in front of him.
From the bubble all the way to the Final Four.
Richardson scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, and Syracuse extended its improbable run with a 68-62 victory over top-seeded Virginia in the Midwest Regional final Sunday in Chicago.
The Orange was among the last teams to get into the NCAA tournament after a rough closing stretch but slipped in as a 10 seed before storming to its first Final Four since 2013 and sixth overall. It comes at the end of a challenging season for coach Jim Boeheim, who was suspended for nine games as the result of an NCAA investigation.
“It was a whole team effort, and these guys really deserve it,” Boeheim said. “We beat a great basketball team. I’ve never been prouder in all my 40 years as coach of a basketball team as I am of this team tonight.”
Syracuse (23-13), which trailed by 16 at the start of the second half, becomes the first 10 seed to make it to the Final Four and just the fourth double-digit seed to accomplish the feat. It’s the lowest seeded team to reach the national semifinals since No. 11 VCU in 2011, according to STATS.
Michael Gbinije and freshman Tyler Lydon each scored 11 points for the Orange, which will face North Carolina on Saturday in Houston in another all-ACC showdown. Tyler Roberson finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
“We had a lot of doubters,” Lydon said. “A lot of people who believed we shouldn’t even be in this tournament. I’m sure there are still a lot of people who think that. But we know what we can do as a team, and that’s all that matters.”
London Perrantes scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half for Virginia (29-8). Malcolm Brogdon, the ACC player of the year, had 12 points on 2-of-14 shooting in the final game of his Cavaliers career.
“It was in our grasp, but credit goes to Syracuse for some of the plays they made,” coach Tony Bennett said. “I think some of our points off turnovers probably cost us. We didn’t convert on some things, had some errors, but played well enough in stretches.”
Syracuse trailed 54-39 before it ripped off 25 of the next 29 points, including 15 in a row. And Richardson led the way, often taking the ball right at Brogdon.
“I just had to pick it up,” he said. “I wanted to help my teammates out as best I could.”
East Regional
North Carolina 88, Notre Dame 74: Brice Johnson had 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Tar Heels past the Fighting Irish in the East Regional final in Philadelphia, leaving UNC as the only No. 1 seed in the Final Four.
The Tar Heels (32-6) reached the Final Four for a record 19th time and the first since 2009, when they won the last of their five national championships.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams bit his tongue and cut a finger during the net-cutting ceremonies, but the Hall of Famer didn’t mind.
“Never in my life have I wanted something for someone else as I wanted to get these guys to Houston,” he said.
“He should be used to cutting nets,” senior point guard Marcus Paige said of Williams. “He said, ‘I’ll bleed for you guys if you keep playing the way we’re playing.’ We’ll get him patched up.”
Sunday’s halves were very different. In the first, the teams went shot for shot with both teams shooting over 58 percent and neither leading by more than six points. The second half was run for run, and the Tar Heels, taking control of the boards, had the last and biggest one to seize control over the final 10 minutes.
It was Johnson’s school-record 23rd double-double of the season.
“It took us four years to do this, but we’re finally there,” Johnson said of the Final Four.
Paige added 13 points and Joel Berry II had 11 points and eight assists for North Carolina. The Tar Heels finished with a 32-15 rebound advantage.
Demetrius Jackson had 26 points and V.J. Beacham had 18 for sixth-seeded Notre Dame (24-12), which has made the Final Four once, in 1978.
“I thought we put ourselves in position,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “We took that one-point lead, and they answered it like men. … I thought the way they answered that run was championship level.”
