HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Jim Boeheim 1, Greensboro 0.

In the most hyped first-round game in the National Invitation Tournament, Andrew White and Tyus Battle combined for 54 points Wednesday night to lead the No. 1 overall seed Syracuse to a 90-77 victory over UNC Greensboro before 4,288 fans at the Carrier Dome.

The game garnered extra attention because of Boeheim's comments about Greensboro at last week's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The Syracuse coach insisted the ACC tourney should be played in major media markets, saying "There's no value to playing in Greensboro. None."

The city of Greensboro punched back with its Twitter account, "We kindly disagree. But I guess you can lose in the first round anywhere," and Greensboro vs. Boeheim T-shirts were big sellers this week in North Carolina.

But in the end, the Orange -- the last team out for the NCAA Tournament -- had too much talent for the Spartans, who were seeded No. 8 in Syracuse's region for the NIT.

Syracuse (19-14) will face fifth-seeded Ole Miss (21-13) in the second round over the weekend. The Rebels topped No. 4 seed Monmouth 91-83 in their NIT opener Tuesday.

White, a third-team All-ACC selection, led all scorers with 34 points on 11-of-15 shooting (7-of-9 from 3-point range), and Battle tallied 20 points for Syracuse, which improved to 17-3 at the Carrier Dome this season. Tyler Lydon notched his eighth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Diante Baldwin led UNC Greensboro with 19 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. R.J. White had 16 points, and Demetrius Troy added 14 points. The Spartans (25-10) won the Southern Conference's regular-season title but lost to East Tennessee State in the league tournament championship game.

Battle scored seven points in a 16-4 run that gave Syracuse its largest lead of the game to that point, 69-47. The Spartans sliced the Orange's advantage to 76-63, but Taurean Thompson's layup and White's 3-pointer boosted Syracuse's lead to 81-63 with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining.

UNC Greensboro battled back again to pull within 81-74, but the Orange sank 9 of 10 free throws in the closing minutes to seal the win.

Defense was optional in the first half as the teams combined to shoot 57 percent from the floor and 48 percent from 3-point range. After UNC Greensboro grabbed a 24-23 lead on the third of Troy's four first-half 3-pointers, the Orange went on a 12-0 run that started with Frank Howard's trey and ended with White's fourth 3-pointer of the half.

White scored 19 points in the first half as Syracuse led 47-37 at the break. Troy, who was averaging 6.7 points per game before Wednesday, scored 14 in the first half to keep the Spartans in the game.