Throwback Thursday: Syracuse Stuns Virginia in 2016 Elite 8

Syracuse earned a trip to the Final Four with a comeback for the ages.

Syracuse basketball completed one of the most improbable comebacks in NCAA Tournament history during the Elite 8 in the 2016. Virginia was one of the Orange's biggest nemeses since joining the ACC. Syracuse was 0-3 against the Cavs during that time, with the average margin of defeat 13 points. Virginia flat out dominated Syracuse. 

The Cavs stingy, physical defense and extremely efficient offense seemed to be the perfect counter to the Orange's style of play. The Elite 8 game was going much the same way. Virginia led by 14 at the half, 16 early in the second half and 15 with 9:30 left to play. They were controlling tempo and Syracuse did not seem to have any answers. 

That is when the magic started. After a London Perrantes three pointer pushed the lead to 15, Syracuse answered with a Tyler Roberson dunk and Trevor Cooney layup. Syracuse's defense picked up, forcing a turnover on three of four Virginia possessions, sparked by the full court press. The possession that did not result in a turnover saw Malcolm Brogdon miss a rushed layup after beating the press. 

Four free throws and a Malachi Richardson layup trimmed the lead to seven, and Syracuse suddenly had some momentum with 7:37 remaining. Following a Devon Hall layup, Richardson drilled a step back three. The press forced a bad in bounds pass, and Richardson threw it off a Virginia player to give possession back to the Orange. 

Tyler Lydon took advantage by hitting a three of his own, and the once seemingly insurmountable lead was down to just three with 6:52 to go. The crowd was in a frenzy, Syracuse's bench was jubilant. All of the momentum was on the side of the Orange. Virginia called timeout in order to stop the bleeding. 

It did not work. 

Syracuse got a defensive stop, and Michael Gbinije took the rebound the length of the floor for a quick layup. After another stop, Gbinije grabbed the rebound again and found Richardson curling at the top of the key. Richardson took two dribbles as he slashed towards the basket and laid it in to give Syracuse a lead they would not give back. 

Richardson drilled a three and then scored inside off of an offensive rebound on Syracuse's next two possessions to push their advantage to six. They would cruise from there to advance to the Final Four. 

From down 15 to up six during a historic 25-4 run. Richardson finished with 23 points and seven rebounds. Gbinije added 11 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Lydon had 11 points, six rebounds and five blocks off the bench.

"It was a whole team effort and these guys really deserve it," Boeheim said after the game. "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."

You can watch highlights of the comeback in the video at the top of the page.