Quadir Copeland sinks buzzer-beater for Syracuse to top Miami

Syracuse men’s basketball defeated the Miami Hurricanes 72-69 in a nail-biter that went all the way down to the final buzzer.

With the game tied and only a second remaining, sophomore guard Quadir Copeland released a triple that would give his team the victory. The Orange picked up their 13th win of the season and their fourth conference win of the year

Fellow sophomore guard J.J. Starling‘s season high 22 points and 6-for-10 shooting from deep led SU to yet another win at home, where they keep a perfect 9-0 record. 

Syracuse got off to a cold start from the field, making just two of their first ten shots.

For the first ten minutes of the game, the score remained close. While Miami shot more efficiently from the field, Syracuse made more threes and got to the free-throw line. 

Miami started with seven straight misses from behind the arc, but the Orange defense could not stop the Hurricanes from inside in the first, allowing them to make nine of their first ten shots.  

The lead continued oscillating between narrow Syracuse and Miami leads until a 9-0 Hurricane run that gave them a 29-21 edge.

Sophomore forward Chris Bell hit a three-pointer to end the Miami run, igniting the packed JMA Wireless Dome. A Starling triple got the crowd even louder, forcing Hurricane head coach Jim Larrañaga to call a timeout.

At the end of 20 minutes of play, Miami was up 31-30. Hurricane guard Matthew Cleveland led all scorers with 10 points. 

The second half began with an incohesive and inefficient Syracuse offense, scoring just two points in the first 6:01 of the half. Starling’s quick five points had Syracuse fans incredibly rambunctious, as the Orange tied the game at 39. The guard was up to 16 points on the day on 4-for-7 shooting from three.

With the game tied again, this time at 42, Miami guard Nijel Pack had a quick eight-point burst that temporarily quieted the Dome. After a foul call didn’t go the Orange’s way and a Cleveland dunk, Syracuse called a timeout to weather the Miami momentum shift. 

With 5:11 left, Bell hit a corner three-pointer that got the Orange crowd rowdy. Starling’s three that tied the game made Syracuse fans get even noisier, before sophomore forward Maliq Brown’s basket led to “Let’s go Orange” chants filling the dome. Syracuse was up 64-62 with 3:10 remaining. 

Starling hit yet another triple with 1:49 left just to be matched by Miami 33 seconds later. Tied at 69 with an opportunity to win the game, Syracuse called timeout to draw up a final play.

With time running out and the crowd amped, Copeland hit a buzzer-beating three for the win, giving Syracuse the win.

The crowd erupted, fans screamed in excitement and players stormed Copeland.

On a day with a loud Dome, the crowd got loudest in support of the team after the close, enthralling victory had officially concluded.

“I said, ‘If I get open imma shoot it,’” said Copeland on the final play. “That’s really just what happened. Me and Judah (Mintz) just made eye contact, he threw the ball and was like, make the shot, that’s it.”

Next up, the Orange will play Florida State at home for the first and only time this season. Tip off is Tuesday at 7 p.m.