INDIANAPOLIS – Buddy Boeheim took his father, Jim, to the 20th Sweet 16 appearance of the Hall of Fame coach, obtaining 22 of his 25 points after the break to lead Syracuse in the 11th grade , placed third in West Virginia, 75-72, in the NCAA Tournament Sunday.
Jim Boeheim’s Orange enjoyed another legend, Bob Huggins, in the second March Madness game between coaches with at least 900 Division I wins. Huggins won the 900th when West Virginia defeated her. on Morehead State in the first round on Friday. Boeheim took 982 at Huggins’ expense.
Syracuse (18-9) advanced to face Houston Second or Rutgers 10 in a Midwest Regional semifinal.
Buddy “Buckets” Boeheim broke out in the second half, when he did all but one of his six 3-pointers. He finished 6 of 13 deep and 8 of 17 overall and helped eliminate the game with three late free throws.
While deep tournaments are nothing new to his father, he is the first for Buddy, who was a first-year player when Orange lost in the opening round two years ago. He is now Orange’s top scorer and one of the most dangerous basketball players in college. He made two 3s in a straight line immediately after the break, and his jumper and 3 in consecutive possessions put Syracuse ahead 63-59, with 4:55 left.
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3 points by Buddy Boeheim and a blockade by Quincy Guerrier help push Syracuse into West Virginia.
Sean McNeil scored 23 points to lead the Mountaineers (19-10), who last achieved Sweet 16 in 2018. It was the fifth time West Virginia had come this far under Huggins, who also made the regional semifinals. four times with Cincinnati.
WVU watched 74-72 with 4 seconds left before Boeheim was fouled in midfield by a pass. He threw a free throw and missed the second, but Miles McBride traveled after catching the rebound.
Joe Girard III scored all 12 points before the break, setting Orange up while Boeheim struggled. Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj also scored 12 for Syracuse.
Once again, entering the tournament as a bubble team did not hurt Syracuse. Orange switched to Sweet 16 each time they were given a double-digit seeding, reaching the Final Four as 10 in 2016 and Sweet 16 as 11 in 2018.
This more recent race ended when Boeheim’s group lost to Duke and Mike Krzyzewski, the only previous game of the 900-win coach’s tournament.