ST. LOUIS -- The roll call of No. 15 seeds that reached the Sweet 16 remains at one.

However, the list of Atlantic Coast Conference teams in this year's NCAA Tournament regional semifinals expanded to a record six.

In an unlikely second-round matchup of No. 10 and No. 15 seeds, Syracuse spanked Middle Tennessee in the second half Sunday at Scottrade Center for a 75-50 decision that propelled the Orange into a Midwest Region semifinal Friday night against No. 11 Gonzaga in Chicago.

The Orange (21-13) joined fellow ACC programs Duke, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Virginia in the regional semis.

"It was a tough season in the ACC," Syracuse center DaJuan Coleman said. "Every night, you had to play hard. We definitely got better as the season went along."

Some might debate that statement, seeing how the Orange lost five of six going into the NCAA Tournament and were panned by many as a team that shouldn't have been selected. However, they proved their worthiness over the weekend, drilling Dayton 70-51 Friday and then following a similar script in this one.

After the Blue Raiders (25-10) grabbed a 33-31 lead with 18:38 left on 3-pointers by guards Jaqawn Raymond and Giddy Potts, their large fan contingent roared to life. However, Syracuse regained the advantage less than 90 seconds later and kept adding to it.

While guard Michael Gbinije delivered a game-high 23 points on just 14 shot attempts for the Orange, who finished the day converting an impressive 55.1 percent of their field-goal tries, Middle Tennessee ground to a halt.

After sinking nearly 56 percent in a 90-81 upset of No. 2 seed Michigan State on Friday, the Blue Raiders managed to make a measly 29.7 percent from the field against Syracuse's active 2-3 zone.

"We knew their zone was good," Middle Tennessee forward Darnell Harris said, "but we couldn't score over their length. It really bothered us when we were going from wing to corner, because that's how we like to run our offense.

"We tried to enter through the middle and drive, but they blocked a lot of shots. It was hard against their length."

The Orange snuffed out 11 shots, six by 6-foot-9 reserve forward Tyler Lydon, who also added 14 points and seven rebounds over 34 minutes. Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis described Lydon as a future NBA lottery pick.

Coleman had no problem concurring with that analysis.

"He's going to be great," Coleman said of Lydon. "He hits shots, he has range, he blocks shots and he rebounds. He can do a lot of things."

Lydon credited Syracuse's dominant second half to becoming more patient on offense.

"We executed a little better in the second half," he said. "Our defense generates a lot of our offense. We try not to focus on what they're doing, we just play our defense."

Gbinije's 3-pointer at the 11:23 mark put the Orange ahead 50-41. Davis burned his next-to-last timeout at that point, but the Blue Raiders simply couldn't replicate their nearly flawless 40-minute effort of Friday.

By the time Raymond ended a scoring drought of 7 minutes and 7 seconds on a 3-pointer with 5:57 remaining, Syracuse owned a 61-44 edge and could have coasted to the finish line. Instead, it upped the lead to 28 points in the last minute.

Guard Trevor Cooney and forward Tyler Roberson added 12 points each for the Orange, with Roberson tacking on nine rebounds. It added up to the program's 19th Sweet 16 appearance.

Harris was the only Blue Raider to score in double figures, finishing with 11 points.

The final score notwithstanding, this was still a weekend to remember for Middle Tennessee, even though it failed to join Florida Gulf Coast (2013) as a No. 15 seed that reached the tourney's second weekend.

"This team won't be remembered by this result," Davis said. "They've set their own legacy."

NOTES: Both Middle Tennessee and Syracuse have played basketball for more than 100 years, but Sunday's game was the first time the programs have met. ... Blue Raiders G Giddy Potts entered the game as the top 3-point percentage marksman in Division I at 50.7 percent, canning 76-of-150. ... Orange coach Jim Boeheim was officially credited with his 50th NCAA tourney win Friday. Boeheim had four tournament wins vacated from his record due to NCAA sanctions.