For the first time in 5 seasons Arizona State clinched a spot in the Sweet 16 after beating Syracuse 78-67 Sunday afternoon.

”There’s not a lot of openings to be found because they have great length, they have terrific athletes, and they cover ground so well,” Arizona State coach Herb Sendek said after the loss. ”So what may seem momentarily open is quickly closed.”

After the win Syracuse immediately started preparing for their next matchup against Oklahoma.

”We’re going to play the team that would be the No. 1 seed in this tournament if it weren’t for (Blake) Griffin getting injured,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. ”If he hadn’t gotten hurt, they’d be the No. 1 seed. That’s enough to worry about.”

Syracuse played well, but they’ll need to play even better to get past Oklahoma.