It was their third game in five days, they had only seven scholarship players and they were battling in an arena filled to the rafters with the green-and-white colors of their opponent.
But No. 11 Syracuse had already made a statement that it belongs in the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday vs. Arizona State. On Friday vs. Texas Christian, it announced that it had been, perhaps, a bit overlooked.
And on Sunday, with a stunning 55-53 upset over No. 3 Michigan State, the Orange has officially crashed the Big Dance.
Their style won’t inspire poetry, but it has proved effective at disrupting and disarming opponents, and even belying the statistics that normally augur success in this tournament.