This game was played in St. Louis, and it started off in a weird way. As the day began, tournament organizers were scrambling to find another set of nets because the ones that were sent to the Scottrade Center were not regulation size. So, in a last minute effort, they finally ended up poaching a set from Fontbonne University, a Division III school in St. Louis. Two teams with  lengthy pedigrees would play each other in the first round…the Dayton Flyers and the Syracuse Orange.

Syracuse tried at first to use their up-tempo perimeter offense to begin with. They missed eight of their first nine shots. The Flyers did not fare too much better. However, the two teams finally found their edge and mustered up a score of 30-28 at the break. When play resumed, the Orange started using a zone defense, and Dayton could not figure it out. The lead would only then start to grow. Five minutes into the second half, Syracuse was leading by ten, 39-29. Later, the difference grew to twenty midway through the 2nd half. Dayton shot 2-14 in the second half. The game was over.

Malachi Richardson scored 21 points for the Orange, the leading scorer. Tyler Robertson followed suit and scoring 10. Charles Cooke, the leading scorer for Dayton, scored 14. Scoochie Smith added 12 points. However, their efforts were not enough, as the Orange avenged a 2014 NCAA Tournament loss to Dayton by defeating them 70-51.

Syracuse will face Middle Tennessee State, who defeated Michigan State in probably the greatest upset in history 90-81.