After Jimmy Boeheim opened the game with a basket for the Orange, Virginia got out to a 13-6 lead as they hit their first three attempts outside the arc. Syracuse tried to keep pace with their own outside shooting but turnovers and rebounding kept them trailing at the 8-minute timeout.
The next stretch was bad for the Orange on both ends as they couldn’t take advantage of Jayden Gardner heading to the bench with two fouls. Syracuse was down 23-16 as they took bad shots and let the Cavaliers get the ball into the middle of the zone.