NEW YORK -- Syracuse and Connecticut played a game for the ages Thursday night and into early Friday. When it was over, everybody in Madison Square Garden was exhausted and, except for the losing team, exhilarated.

Telling someone that Syracuse (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) beat Connecticut (No. 4 ESPN/USA Today, No. 3 AP) 127-117 in six overtimes in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament is equivalent to saying there's a star in the sky.

There's more, so much more.

"I've got no words," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said when asked to describe the second-longest Division I game ever. "I've never been prouder of any team I've coached."

There were the numbers, from the 3 hours, 46 minutes it took to play the game that ended at 1:22 a.m., to the combined 244 points, 102 of which came after the regulation buzzer, to the eight players who fouled out, to the six who registered double-doubles.

And that wasn't nearly all. Just ask Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn, who had 34 points and 11 assists in a game-high 67 minutes, only 3 fewer than were played.

"I just wanted to get the game over with," he said. "I was thinking, 'Lord, just get this game over with. Whoever wins the game, let's just get it over with.'"