Triche said he felt no sense of relief until only seconds were left, and he heard Marquette Coach Buzz Williams yelling for his players not to foul. Triche said he knew then that Syracuse’s 55-39 victory was in hand, its trip to the Final Four secure, so thoroughly had the Orange smothered the Golden Eagles with a zone defense that has become one of the most compelling story lines of the N.C.A.A. tournament.

“Our defense has been tremendous,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said, “and our offense has just been enough.”

Nobody has been able to score against fourth-seeded Syracuse (30-9), at least not much. On a white cinder-block wall in Syracuse’s locker room here, a staff member had affixed a poster that featured the logos of the team’s four tournament opponents: Montana, California, Indiana and Marquette. All four had thick black X’s through them, the ink covering Marquette’s logo still wet in the minutes immediately after Saturday’s victory. Spots for two more opponents remained.

“We’re still hungry,” said Michael Carter-Williams, a sophomore point guard who was named the region’s outstanding player after finishing with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. “We’re sticking together. We’re not breaking down.”

Third-seeded Marquette (26-9), which defeated Syracuse in the teams’ only regular-season meeting, had more turnovers (14) than field goals (12). The Golden Eagles shot 22.6 percent from the field. Their 39 points were a record low for a regional final since the shot clock was introduced in 1986. They were 3 of 24 from 3-point range. For much of the game, it looked as if they were shooting the basketball while wearing oven mitts.

“They beat us from start to finish,” Buzz Williams said. “We tried everything we knew how to try.”

James Southerland had 16 points to lead the Orange, who earned a berth in their fifth Final Four, the program’s first since Carmelo Anthony’s 2003 title team. Syracuse will face the winner of Sunday’s South Region final between Florida and Michigan on Saturday in Atlanta.

Marquette’s struggles were more than vaguely reminiscent of those experienced by Indiana in Thursday’s Round of 16. Like Marquette, Indiana looked utterly baffled by Syracuse’s zone, going 3 of 15 from 3-point range. Through four games in the tournament, Syracuse has limited its opponents to 28.9 percent shooting over all.

“Our zone is good when you have the right players for it,” Triche said. “Once you buy into it, we know we can stop anybody.”

It felt like a home game for Syracuse, with the crowd heavily flecked with orange, all those fans turning Verizon Center into Carrier Dome South. President Obama was in attendance, too. “I hope he had a good time watching,” Carter-Williams said.

Syracuse, which will be part of the new-look Atlantic Coast Conference next season, had its share of Big East Conference battles in this building against Georgetown, the most recent of which was a 61-39 loss on March 9. The assistant coach Mike Hopkins recalled how miserable the Orange felt after that debacle — everyone from the first-year assistant Gerry McNamara to the players. It was Syracuse’s fourth loss in five games.

“I wanted to hide under a rock,” Hopkins said. “I’m sure Gerry wanted to go to Scranton for the night, just to have his mom rub his back. What can you do?”

Yet Boeheim said he always believed in the team’s potential, and he reinforced that message with the players. He said he was encouraged by the way they reacted, showing up for their first practice after that Georgetown loss before the coaches arrived. When Boeheim got to the court, he discovered that practice had started without him. The team was already playing a game of 4-on-4.

“And playing hard,” Boeheim said. “I watched them for a few minutes, and it was a really good thing.”

On Saturday, in the face of Syracuse’s relentless pressure, Marquette appeared at a total loss, which was not often the case this season. In his fifth season at Marquette, Williams has emerged as one of college basketball’s most exuberant personalities, running preseason boot camps and making relentless pleas for energy, for loose balls, for floor burns. Williams is also a stickler for preparation. By Friday afternoon — less than 24 hours after his team had dispatched Miami in the regional semifinals — he had watched video of Syracuse’s last six games.

It did little good. The lone bright spot for Marquette was the play of Davante Gardner, a 6-foot-8, 290-pound junior whose body evokes the general dimensions of an industrial-size meat locker. He scored 6 points in a 10-2 run in the first half, and finished with 14, but that was pretty much all the offensive pyrotechnics the Golden Eagles could muster.

Early in the second half, Triche got loose for a fast-break layup, giving the Orange a 28-21 lead. By the time Syracuse’s C. J. Fair tipped in a missed layup, Syracuse was up by 15 and Triche was staring at the clock.

“We showed that defense wins,” he said.