Boeheim’s Army eliminated in TBT 2nd round in 81-78 stunner to We Are D3
Boeheim's Army was eliminated from The Basketball Tournament in an 81-78 second-round upset to We Are D3. Courtesy of The Basketball Tournament
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In a single elimination basketball tournament, chaos is bound to happen. The NCAA Tournament — known as March Madness — has grown its brand off of just that: madness. With a thin margin for error, teams who are battle-tested tend to be the best. Those with the smallest flaws can be exploited easily.
Boeheim’s Army head coach Allen Griffin knows this as well as anyone — he helped take Syracuse to the Sweet 16 twice as an assistant coach, including as the No. 11 seed in 2021.
In 2025’s rendition of The Basketball Tournament, a competition that’s formatted nearly identically to March Madness, the outcomes can be equally unpredictable. That’s why five of the tournament’s top seeds, including two No. 1 seeds, had already been eliminated entering Monday night.
Boeheim’s Army faced its first test in No. 4 seed We Are D3 on Monday. In shocking fashion, it was a victim of the madness.
In the second round of TBT, Boeheim’s Army fell to We Are D3 81-78. BA led by as much as 12 in the second quarter, but We Are D3 erased the deficit behind Ty Nichols’ 36 points, a single-game tournament-high by any player this year. With the loss, Boeheim’s Army, the top seed in the Syracuse regional, was eliminated from TBT.
“The game is about getting stops,” Griffin said. “We just didn’t get the necessary stops that we were supposed to.”
The most desperate stop came at the end of TBT’s signature Elam Ending. In a race to 80 points, We Are D3 had 79 and the ball on an inbound pass. Everybody in SRC Arena knew where it was going.
Dakquan Davis fed the ball to Nichols. He drove to his right using his left hand and evaded Elijah Hughes’ reach. Nichols skied up with his right and laid the ball over the outstretched arm of Jamil Wilson. It kissed high off the glass and fell to the bottom of the net, ending the game.
But the upset had been brewing since the first quarter.
Boeheim’s Army went on an 8-0 run to start the game after 3-pointers from Buddy Boeheim and Hughes. Buckets from Jimmy Boeheim and Jacob Gilyard extended the lead to 10 before We Are D3 trimmed it down to four a few minutes later. Nichols hit a buzzer-beating jumper, but We Are D3 trailed by six at the end of the frame.
It hung around throughout the second quarter. Boeheim’s Army failed to score within the first three minutes, allowing We Are D3 to cut its deficit to three.
Two buckets from Chris McCullough, including an emphatic alley-oop from Gilyard, helped spark a 6-0 run the other way. Boeheim’s Army led by as much as 12 during the second quarter but couldn’t sustain the advantage.
Coming out of a timeout, We Are D3 went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to five. Boeheim’s Army led by six at the half, but Nichols had 16 points.
At halftime, Griffin told Fox Sports One that his squad needed to take better advantage of matchups inside and go to work in the paint. He added rebounding and paint points would be the difference in the game. In the end, they were, just for the opposing team. Boeheim’s Army finished the game with 15 fewer rebounds and 12 fewer points in the paint.
BA was on the ropes for most of the third quarter. We Are D3 led at multiple points in the period. It started with a 10-4 run to start the quarter, knotting the game at 45 with just over five minutes to play.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Gilyard and Buddy Boeheim helped BA go back up by six, but the lead was short lived. Three buckets from We Are D3 tied the game again at 51, starting a back-and-forth affair where both teams ended the quarter knotted at 57.
“(We Are D3 is) scrappy,” Griffin said. “They’re physical. Especially in this format, the refs don’t call fouls that much. That works to their advantage. You’ve got to be able to play that way as well.”
The main culprits were turnovers and poor shot selection. Boeheim’s Army turned the ball over six times in the third quarter and shot just 36.4% from the field.
“Regardless of how it’s going in the game, you got to continue to work together,” Griffin said. “I thought we had some guys try to play a little bit of hero ball. You got to stay together. That’s the only way you’re going to be able to win at the level that we’re trying to win.”
Chaos ensued in the fourth. We Are D3 sprinted out on a 7-0 run to begin the frame, and Boeheim’s Army spent the whole quarter clawing back. It attempted just four field goals the entire frame and mustered only 11 points.
It came within one twice in the final minutes before TBT’s signature Elam Ending. Buddy hit a 3, and Gilyard knocked down three free throws before a Nichols triple. Gilyard responded with an and-one, but Nichols again nailed a moving 3-pointer to enter the Elam Ending up by four.
“I just felt like he couldn’t continue to make those tough shots,” Griffin said. “But he did.”
In the Elam Ending, Dimitrius Underwood hit two early buckets to bring We Are D3 within four points of the win. Boeheim’s Army missed its first six field goals of the Elam Ending, but free throws kept it alive.
A Buddy 3 helped BA cut into the deficit, 76-73. Hughes and Buddy both missed 3s to tie the game right after.
“For the most part, we just didn’t make (3-pointers) tonight,” Griffin said. “This is a game about makes and misses. I didn’t think we scored enough points.”
Hughes fouled Nichols on a 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession. He hit two-of-three from the line to bring We Are D3 within two points of the win. On the next two possessions, McCullough hit a layup and Buddy hit a 3 to tie the game, but it didn’t matter.
Following a foul on Buddy, Nichols sunk yet another tough shot to win the game. SRC Arena was stunned.
Boeheim’s Army had the squad to make a run in the tournament. Full of former NBA players and March Madness stars, it had both star power and depth. But all it takes is one off-night.
Much like the NCAA Tournament, TBT favors the underdog. We Are D3 is one in every sense of the word. A scrappy, physical squad built on players who rarely had opportunities like their Boeheim’s Army counterparts. And their leader just so happens to be one of the best scorers in the tournament.
On paper, Boeheim’s Army had no reason to lose on Monday. But that’s the beauty of the madness.
