San Diego St., Syracuse meet in First Round

Published Mar. 18, 2021 7:30 a.m. ET

Associated Press

No. 11 seed Syracuse (16-9) vs. No. 6 seed San Diego State (23-4)

NCAA Tournament First Round, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis; Friday, 8:40 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Syracuse is taking on San Diego State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. San Diego State beat Utah State by 11 points in Las Vegas on Saturday, while Syracuse came up short in a 72-69 game to Virginia last week.

BIG MEN ON CAMPUS: Matt Mitchell is averaging 15.4 points and 5.5 rebounds to lead the charge for the Aztecs. Jordan Schakel has paired with Mitchell and is producing 14.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. The Orange have been led by Alan Griffin, who is averaging 14.7 points and 6.5 rebounds.ACCURATE ALAN: Griffin has connected on 37.2 percent of the 148 3-pointers he's attempted and has made 8 of 17 over the last three games. He's also made 89.3 percent of his foul shots this season.

WINNING WHEN: San Diego State is a perfect 19-0 when it scores at least 68 points. The Aztecs are 4-4 when scoring any fewer than that.

ASSIST-TO-FG RATIO: The Orange have recently converted buckets via assists more often than the Aztecs. San Diego State has an assist on 34 of 75 field goals (45.3 percent) over its past three games while Syracuse has assists on 49 of 79 field goals (62 percent) during its past three games.

STINGY STATE: San Diego State has held opposing teams to 60.6 points per game this year, the eighth-lowest figure among all Division I teams.

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