Buddy Boeheim erupts late in Syracuse homecoming to secure TBT series
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
When you’re a win closer to $2 million, jokes fly off the tongue.
Buddy Boeheim, the captain of Boeheim’s Army’s 2026 The Basketball Tournament squad, cracked a joke when asked postgame what it was like to be back in Syracuse playing in front of friends and family.
“It stunk in the first three quarters,” Buddy joked.
The first three quarters of BA’s Round 1 series-clinching 81-76 win over Hall In, Seton Hall’s alumni team, didn’t go Buddy’s way. For 27 minutes, he shot 1-for-8 from 3. But Buddy found his groove in the fourth, scoring 11 points and sinking three straight shots to help Boeheim’s Army pull away for the victory.
Of course, it would be ironic, to say the least, to write “friends and family” and leave it at that.
The Boeheim name is practically deified in upstate New York. There’s an 800-square-foot mural of Buddy’s father, longtime Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim, at 215 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse. A section of road at the intersection of Irving Avenue and E. Raynor Avenue, running along the JMA Wireless Dome, is labeled “Jim Boeheim Way.” Buddy and Jimmy, who each played for Syracuse during their college basketball careers, wear the famous last name on the fronts and backs of their uniforms in this summer’s TBT.
In Buddy’s four seasons with the Orange from 2018-22, he scored 1,765 points (13th-most in school history) and hit 309 3-pointers (second-most). As a senior, he was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference First Team. In 2021 March Madness, he scored 55 points across SU’s first two contests.
So yeah, it’s sort of a big deal whenever a Boeheim is back playing basketball in Syracuse.
Buddy Boeheim shoots during Boeheim’s Army’s TBT series-clinching win over Hall In Thursday. Boeheim scored 14 points and hit four 3-pointers in the victory. Brody Shuffler | Staff Photographer
But two days after shooting 2-for-10 from the field and 1-for-6 from 3 in Boeheim’s Army’s 82-52 Game 1 shellacking of Hall In, his first shot Thursday night banged off the back of the rim. His second attempt also hit iron. His third ricocheted off the back of the rim and the backboard.
Buddy didn’t shoot again until there were less than two minutes left in the first half. Again, his shot failed to hit net. He didn’t score his first points of the game until 10 seconds left in the half, nailing a 3-pointer from the top of the arc.
But it didn’t ignite a run. Buddy’s first shot of the third quarter whirled around the rim and out. After BA’s successful coaches challenge, Buddy got the ball back one second of the game clock later, receiving the in-bound pass from point guard Tyson Walker and releasing from the corner.
Rim again. A little over a minute later, another missed 3.
“It’s a great group of guys,” Buddy said postgame when asked how he held his confidence through all the misses. “They have a lot of confidence in me.”
“I told him to keep shooting,” Elijah Hughes, Buddy’s SU teammate, said. “I’ve seen what he can do.”
That potential was on full display in the fourth quarter. With Boeheim’s Army down 60-59 early in the game’s final frame, Buddy caught a pass from Walker in the left slot and immediately put up a shot.
Score. Boeheim’s Army up 62-60.
“Tyson gave me a great look,” Buddy said. “That really got me going. You see one go in, and it’s just a confidence boost.”
Two minutes later, with the game tied 62-62, Walker again fed Buddy, this time wide open along the right wing.
Nothing but net. BA led 65-62.
Less than 30 seconds later, after Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu glassed an Isaiah Whitehead layup attempt at the opposite end, Boeheim’s Army had possession again. Walker kicked the ball out to Hughes, standing in the left slot.
“I thought he was going to shoot it,” Buddy said. “He passed it to me. That’s just the type of team we have.”
Hughes fired a no-look pass to Buddy, who indeed looked surprised to receive it. Score. Another two points, after Buddy’s foot was ruled on the line when shooting. Five-point lead for Boeheim’s Army.
“I think I let out one of the louder screams I’ve let out in a long time,” Buddy said.
He scored one more 3, another 30 seconds later, from the top of the key and a couple feet beyond the arc to make it 70-64.
“And then it was fun,” Buddy said, following up on what it was like to be back home in Syracuse.
Buddy caught a red-eye flight to Newark, New Jersey, to make BA’s first game against Hall In Tuesday. He slept for 12 hours after returning to Syracuse the next morning. He missed 15 of his first 18 shots in the tournament.
But none of that mattered after all. He finally woke up late Thursday, guiding BA a step closer to the coveted $2 million prize.
