Syracuse delivered one of the biggest wins of the Adrian Autry era in dramatic fashion on Saturday. With the game knotted at 69-all against Miami, reserve guard Quadir Copeland drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Orange a 72-69 win at home in front of a raucous crowd.
The Orange (13-5, 4-3 ACC) have won three of their last four conference games after falling to Duke on the road in their second ACC game of the season. Miami (12-6, 3-4) tied the game with 1:17 remaining after guard Kyshawn George made a 3-pointer of his own with 1:17 remaining before Copeland ended the game on the other end.
Syracuse is in its first season of the post-Jim Boeheim era, and the Orange are slowly building a case to be a potential at-large team come NCAA Tournament time. Notre Dame transfer JJ Starling scored a season-high 22 points and Judah Mintz added a near triple-double with 10 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds for Syracuse.
After reaching the Final Four for the first time in program history last spring, Miami has hit a rough patch in conference play. The Hurricanes have lost four of their last five games, which includes losses to Wake Forest, Louisville, Florida State and now most recently, Syracuse.