When No. 3 seed West Virginia battles 11th-seeded Syracuse at 5:15 p.m. Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16, it will feature a pair of old Big East Conference rivals meeting for the 51st time and first in the NCAA Tournament.
It will also pit a pair of college basketball’s most successful coaches in Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and West Virginia’s Bob Huggins, two of four active Division I coaches with at least 900 wins.
Yet for the Mountaineers (19-9), how they handle another Boeheim will likely go a long way toward determining if they prolong their season.
Buddy Boeheim, son of the 44-year SU head coach, is leading the Orange (17-9) at 17.7 points per game. Perhaps more importantly, he enters the round-of-32 matchup as hot as any player in the country, having scored 88 points on 31-of-48 shooting in his last three games. Boeheim is also 18-for-30 from three-point range during that stretch, including 7-for-10 in a 30-point performance during Friday’s 78-62 first-round win over San Diego State.
“I’ve played with a chip on my shoulder ever since I got here,” Boeheim said. “People thought I was going to be a walk on and I was in the 300s in recruits. Having a coach’s son label is something that always fuels me.”
Boeheim is one of four Syracuse players averaging in double figures, while starting point guard Joseph Girard is at 9.6 points, meaning he’s far from their only major scoring threat.
But the Mountaineers have their work cut out against a 6-foot-6 junior that’s scored in double figures in 18 of 23 games.
“I remember when he was a little, little kid,” Huggins said. “I don’t think there was any doubt he was going to end up being a player. He’s terrific. He has to be, if not the best, one of the best shooters in college basketball.”
Boeheim’s success didn’t start this season, as he averaged 6.8 points as a freshman and was second on the team at 15.3 points a year ago. Yet he’s never quite played at this level under his father, and Boeheim’s shooting percentages have also improved — from 40.8 to 43.9 on field goals, 37 to 39.1 on three-pointers and 71.4 to 88.1 on free throws.
“He’s a phenomenal player,” West Virginia freshman Jalen Bridges said. “You have to look past the coach’s kid part because he’s obviously more than that or he wouldn’t be scoring 30 in the NCAA Tournament. He can shoot from anywhere. We have to be up in him and ready to go.”
West Virginia has faced its fair share of standout players this season, though it has also been susceptible to allowing efficient perimeter shooters uncontested looks.
In the Mountaineers’ 84-67 opening-round win against Morehead State, the Eagles shot 52 percent overall and made 10-of-19 from three-point range.
The 6-7 Bridges or Emmitt Matthews Jr. (also 6-7) will likely be tasked with guarding Boeheim at the start.
“We’ve had to guard some guys who can get hot in a hurry and he definitely falls in line with that,” Bridges said. “He shoots it a lot better than most of those guys because he can pretty much shoot from anywhere and create his own shot.”
Although WVU’s first-team All-Big 12 selection Derek Culver won’t draw the Boeheim assignment, the 6-foot-10 Culver is likely more familiar with the sharpshooter than any Mountaineer as the two were teammates at Brewster Academy.
Culver, who overcame a sluggish first half to finish with 12 points and seven rebounds against Morehead, will try to present his own problems for Syracuse’s 2-3 zone.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. Derek’s a great player, someone I got really close with at Brewster,” Boeheim said. “He’s a great guy. I have a lot of good memories with him. He’s a monster down low. I’ll be telling Jesse (Edwards) to force him right even though he can finish with both hands. You just try to contain him. There’s only so much you can do with a player like him.”