INDIANAPOLIS – Buddy Boeheim carried his father, Jim, for the Hall of Fame coach’s 20th participation in Sweet 16, scoring 22 of his 25 points after the break to lead Syracuse in 11th place, overtaking West Virginia 75-72 in the tournament. NCAA on Sunday.
Jim Boeheim’s Orange won over another legend, Bob Huggins, at the second March Madness meeting between coaches with at least 900 First Division wins. Huggins won No. 900 when West Virginia won Morehead State in the first round on Friday. Boeheim got his 982nd at Huggins’ expense.
Syracuse (18-9) advanced to face the Houston semifinalist or Rutgers with the tenth placed in a midwestern regional semifinal.
Buddy “Buckets” Boeheim burst in the second half, when he hit everyone except one of his six points out of 3. He finished 6 out of 13 in depth and 8 out of 17 overall, and helped end the game with three late free throws.
While deep tournament runs are nothing new for his father, they are the first for Buddy, who was a first-year player when Orange lost in the first round two years ago. Now he is Orange’s top scorer and one of the most dangerous pitchers in college basketball. He made two consecutive 3s just after the break, and his jump and 3 in consecutive possession put Syracuse ahead 63-59 with 4:55 remaining.
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Buddy Boeheim’s 3-point jelly and Quincy Guerrier’s jelly help push Syracuse beyond West Virginia.
Sean McNeil scored 23 points to lead the Mountaineers (19-10), who reached Sweet 16 in 2018. This was the fifth time that West Virginia had gone so far under Huggins, that he also made the regional semifinals four times with Cincinnati.
WVU lost 74-72 with 4 seconds remaining before Boeheim was fouled in the middle of the court on a pass on the pitch. He made 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, securing Orange while Boeheim fought. Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj also scored 12 each for Syracuse.
Once again, entering the tournament as a bubble team did no harm to Syracuse. Orange advanced to Sweet 16 each time it received a double-digit seeding, reaching Final Four as 10 in 2016 and Sweet 16 as 11 in 2018.
That most recent series ended when the Boeheim group lost to Duke and Mike Krzyzewski, the only previous tournament between coaches with 900 wins.