INDIANAPOLIS – Buddy Boeheim carried his father, Jim, to the Hall of Fame coach’s 20th Sweet 16 appearance, scoring 22 of his 25 runs at half time to lead 11th-seeded Syracuse past third-seeded West Virginia 75-72 in the NCAA tournament on Sunday.
Jim Boeheim’s Orange team got the better of another legend, Bob Huggins, in the second March Madness meeting between coaches with at least 900 Division I wins. Huggins won number 900 when West Virginia defeated Morehead State in the first round on Friday. Boeheim got his 982nd at the expense of Huggins.
Syracuse (18-9) advanced to second-seeded Houston or 10th-seeded Rutgers in a Midwest Regional semifinal.
Buddy “Buckets” Boeheim broke loose in the second half, making all but one of his six three-pointers. He finished 6-of-13 from deep and 8-of-17 overall, and he helped clear the game with three late free throws.
While deep tournament runs are nothing new to his father, it is the first for Buddy, who was a first-year role when the Dutch lost in the opening round two years ago. Now he is Orange’s top scorer and one of the most dangerous shooters in college basketball. He made two straight 3s just after the break, and his jumper and 3 on consecutive holdings put Syracuse at 63-59 with 4:55 over.
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Buddy Boeheim’s 3-pointer and Quincy Guerrier’s jam help drive Syracuse past West Virginia.
Sean McNeil scored 23 points and led the Mountaineers (19-10), who last made the Sweet 16 in 2018. That was the fifth time West Virginia had come this far under Huggins, who also made it to the regional semifinals four times with Cincinnati.
WVU trailed 74-72 with 4 seconds to go before Boeheim got an error in the midcourt after an inbound pass. He made one free throw and missed the second, but Mountaineers guard Miles McBride traveled after grabbing the rebound.
Joseph Girard III scored all his 12 points before half-time and kept the Orange stable while Boeheim struggled. Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj also each scored 12 for Syracuse.
Again, entering the tournament as a bubble team didn’t hurt Syracuse. The Orange has progressed to the Sweet 16 every time they double seeded, reaching the Final Four as a 10 in 2016 and the Sweet 16 as an 11 in 2018.
That more recent run ended when Boeheim’s peloton lost to Duke and Mike Krzyzewski, the only previous NCAA coach tournament match with 900 wins.