Boeheim’s Army eliminated from TBT with crushing loss to La Familia
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Just over a year ago, Ty Nichols torched Boeheim’s Army’s 2025 The Basketball Tournament campaign. His 36-point performance for We Are D3 in the second round knocked out a Syracuse alumni team with high expectations early.
But when We Are D3 didn’t return this year, Nichols needed a new team. What was the old adage? If you can’t beat them, join them? Well, in this case, Nichols beat BA, then joined them.
Boeheim’s Army had an electrifying new shooting guard. The memory of last year’s loss and Nichols’ dominance remains fresh in Buddy Boeheim’s mind but doesn’t haunt him.
“Don’t remind me of that,” Buddy said, laughing, after BA’s 81-76 win Thursday. “(He) gives you confidence. He beat us, I don’t want to say single-handedly, because they had a good team, but he scored (36) points in about 30 minutes. He’s a really good player.”
On Sunday, Nichols captured the same magic, but it wasn’t enough. After La Familia took an early 12-point lead, he scored 24 points, putting Boeheim’s Army ahead before eventually falling 70-66 at the Kentucky Memorial Coliseum Sunday. Nichols’ heroics allowed BA to dominate for most of the game, but a series of fouls during the Elam Ending terminated its campaign.
Only Archie Goodwin scored more than Nichols. His 30 points led La Familia, while Darryl Morsell added 11 and Willie Cauley-Stein, Andrew Harrison and Kahlil Whitney followed with seven each.
From tipoff, La Familia’s Harrison cashed a 3.
Elijah Hughes, who finished with 16 points, quickly responded with his own, and both teams began working the arc. It starkly contrasted Boeheim’s Army’s first two games, when early play focused on getting the ball to 6-foot-10 Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu in the paint.
Akobundu-Ehiogu had 10 points in the first half Thursday. On Sunday, La Familia’s man-to-man defense limited his space, keeping him to two points. He took his first shot almost 14 minutes in.
This trend defined the game. Akobundu-Ehiogu’s paint dominance and chemistry with Tyson Walker keyed Boeheim’s Army’s early tournament success. Twelve of his 31 points entering Sunday were assisted by Walker.
Against La Familia, both were silenced offensively. Walker continued his playmaking prowess with five assists, but Akobundu-Ehiogu’s second-quarter dunk was the tandem’s lone bucket.
Cole Swider added to the early 3 with a jumper, but Morsell’s subsequent triple began a 10-0 La Familia run, giving the Kentucky alumni a 12-point lead. BA missed all nine shots it took during that stretch and finished the first quarter 5-of-16.
Then, head coach Thomas Bridges subbed Nichols in.
Nichols rallied Boeheim’s Army with an 8-0 run that cut its deficit to 20-17 18 seconds into the second quarter. Still, Goodwin and Morsell’s consistency kept La Familia in control. Both of them shot over 62% in the first half, and Nichols, again, became BA’s only reliable attacking outlet.
He was the only BA player — excluding Akobundu-Ehiogu, who made his sole dunk attempt — to shoot over 50% in the first half, making 7-of-9 shots. After La Familia went up 31-22, Nichols led a BA 14-8 run with eight points. It brought him to 18 first-half points, narrowing La Familia’s lead to three.
Both teams came firing after the break. Cauley-Stein opened with a dunk. Buddy answered with a 3 that began a 14-1 BA surge, when Buddy and Hughes both cashed 3s, bringing Boeheim’s Army’s advantage to 50-42.
Despite its immense talent, BA’s glaring concern throughout TBT has been its depth. It registered 11 players but began its first game against Hall In with eight. Since Eric Devendorf injured his knee Thursday, that dwindled to seven against La Familia.
The Kentucky alumni had an extra man, and their carousel of over-6-foot-5 subs kept Syracuse’s most consistent scorer, Akobundu-Ehiogu, outside the paint.
He only had two points as Boeheim’s Army entered the fourth quarter up 52-48. Nichols, who lit up the first half, didn’t log a second-half point until under two minutes before the Elam Ending. La Familia silencing both players kept it alive.
Whitney made a layup, and Goodwin scored four to put La Familia within three once the clock stopped midway through the fourth. At 61-58, the target score for the Elam Ending was 69.
“It’s all about staying composed,” Goodwin told FOX postgame. “A lot of us have been in these situations before.”
Jimmy Boeheim made two free throws, but Mainor-Bell answered with a 3. Cauley-Stein retaliated with a free throw, and Boeheim’s Army’s fortunes turned when Nichols committed an offensive foul on the next possession. Goodwin cashed a 3, and Nichols responded, putting La Familia up 67-66.
With both sides a bucket away from victory, Nichols fouled Goodwin. Goodwin, who hit the Elam Ender to eliminate The Ville last round, converted to put the Kentucky alumni within one of the target score with possession.
Whitney’s subsequent 3 missed, and Nichols grabbed the rebound but turned it over on the other end.
Nichols scrambled back, but it was too late.
Goodwin missed the initial layup as Nichols pressured him, but Whitney was at the other end, ready for a dunk.
Ballgame.
“Just being prepared for the moment, just being true to what I work on and letting it carry us to the win,” Goodwin told FOX postgame.
The loss echoes 2025, a mostly dominant Boeheim’s Army performance, a stretch of Nichols magic and a close race entering the Elam Ending.
When playing for We Are D3, Nichols set Boeheim’s Army’s campaign in flames. When La Familia looked to do the same, he lifted the team from the ashes and set BA up for a competitive second half.
Boeheim’s Army’s ambitions of a TBT title have again ended in Nichols’ hands. The difference? This time, the dream thrived in them, too.
