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GREENSBORO, N.C. — As 45-year head coach Jim Boeheim was introduced during the pregame starting lineups, one of a few thousand fans in the Greensboro Coliseum shouted a message from across the court.

“Welcome to Greensboro, Jim!” the NC State fan yelled.

Syracuse entered its matchup with No. 9 seed NC State needing at least one win — maybe two — in Greensboro to secure an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. That run had to begin on Wednesday in the ACC Tournament, an event where SU was 3-5 since joining the conference. An arena where Syracuse had one win in the last three trips. A stadium where the Orange’s season came screeching to a halt due to COVID-19 last year after a blowout win over North Carolina.

Boeheim has often voiced his distaste for Greensboro in recent seasons — in 2017, he said there’s “no value in playing in Greensboro, none.” Fortunately for Syracuse’s Tournament chances, his son, Buddy Boeheim, didn’t seem to mind in a 27-point outing on Wednesday. Boeheim’s entire offense didn’t seem to mind either.

Syracuse delivered one of its best shooting performances of the season at the most important time: a do-or-die elimination game. Buddy scored 20 first-half points as Syracuse’s (16-8, 9-7 ACC) overwhelming offense expanded its second-half lead to blowout NC State (13-10, 9-8), 89-68, in the second round of the ACC Tournament. SU’s second-largest win in an ACC Tournament game secures it a spot in the quarterfinals on Thursday against No. 1 seed Virginia, one step closer to the Orange’s NCAA Tournament aspirations.

“Our offense has been there all year,” Boeheim said. “We’re a very good offensive team. When we make shots, we’re really good. Today, we made shots.”

Syracuse swept the Wolfpack 3-0 this season — home, away and now neutral — meaning the Orange are now 15-5 when going for the three-game sweep against the same team in the same season since joining the Big East in 1979.

The first two meetings were won with SU’s improved second-half defense, which forced turnovers and rebounded well. In the third meeting on Wednesday, Syracuse shot the Wolfpack out of the gym from the opening tip. NC State trailed by just five at the break, but eventually, NC State cooled off. Syracuse never did. The Orange made 48.3% of their 3s on Wednesday, their fourth-best shooting game of the season from deep. 

The Orange grabbed control of the game with a 16-3 run to open the second half as four different SU players made 3s: Quincy Guerrier, Alan Griffin, Joe Girard III and Buddy. While Buddy carried the Syracuse offense in the opening 20, the second 20 featured more depth. 

“In the second half, everyone was going,” Buddy said. “We all trust each other and just having a lot of fun out there making shots, setting screens, getting guys open.”

Syracuse’s offense dominated the Wolfpack’s defense with ball screens. Buddy said postgame that they learned from the last two meetings with NC State. This time, SU hedged every ball screen instead of switching. 

When Marek Dolezaj slipped off a ball screen, Buddy said Dolezaj would either have a dunk or NC State would leave shooters to help. When the latter happened, the Orange could kick out for easy open looks. Dolezaj finished with four assists, Buddy and Griffin had five apiece, and Girard added three. The Orange assisted on 19 of their 34 made baskets. 

Boeheim said that the Orange don’t talk about the bubble, but Buddy acknowledged the reality of the bubble situation when he said they knew they still “had work to do” last week after North Carolina. Wins against UNC and Clemson at home were a good start, but those alone were not enough to vault SU onto the right side of the bubble.

Now, Boeheim thinks that the Orange have done enough to claim one of 36 at-large spots in Indianapolis. 

“I don’t think it’s been taken into consideration, we played — the seven Quadrant-1 games we played were all on the road,” Boeheim said. “When you look at the profile overall, I think we’ve got a lot of good wins against good teams. I think we beat a team today that could have been in the Tournament.”

Through the Wolfpack’s five-game ACC winning streak, the surging Wolfpack replaced Braxton Beverly with Dereon Seabron in their lineup. A 6-foot-7 freshman, Seabron’s emergence in the backcourt helped improve the Wolfpack’s defense. He previously had success guarding Kadary Richmond and Buddy in past meetings. Wednesday, though, was different. 

Even when the Orange botched an offensive possession and forced a rushed, contested Robert Braswell 3, he sank it. The redshirt sophomore finished with 11 points in 21 minutes, as the Orange played at least eight players at least 10 minutes in a postseason game for the first time since 2013. 

The Wolfpack tried a press at various points in the first half, but that didn’t work either. On one play, Girard picked up his head and lofted a pass upcourt to Griffin. Griffin pivoted and looked toward the hoop before tossing an alley-oop to Guerrier.

Girard’s steady backcourt play helped the Orange finish with just 11 turnovers. He provided an early spark to the offense with a pull-up jumper and a dribble drive and-1. He finished with 14 points, one of five Syracuse players in double figures. 

“I have a lot of confidence in Joe,” Boeheim said. “I know he’s had his struggles this year, but he proved himself last year and coming into a really tough situation where we had to have him play well, and he did it.”

Buddy Boeheim celebrates after sinking a 3-pointer in the second half. He made six from beyond the arc on Wednesday afternoon. Courtesy of Ethan Hyman | News & Observer

When Dolezaj pushed his way into the lane early in the second half, multiple NC State defenders collapsed on him. As soon as Beverly stepped closer into the lane, Dolezaj kicked the ball out to Buddy, who set his feet and drained the 3. Beverly’s close-out was too slow, and he crashed into Buddy and knocked him to the floor for the foul. 

Buddy threw his arms in the air, fully extended, and held up three fingers in celebration. 

“Today he got a lot of open looks,” Boeheim said of Buddy. “His teammates did a great job of setting him up, finding him.”

After the game, Buddy and Boeheim walked off the court together, the last two SU players to head back to the locker room. Buddy stopped for a moment to acknowledge the SU managers and a few friends from high school. He saluted them with his left hand as he left the floor. 

The Orange’s season didn’t end on Wednesday. And because of the last nine days, the same Syracuse team that looked off the bubble after a loss to Georgia Tech had life again.

Published on March 10, 2021 at 2:13 pm

Contact Anthony: [email protected] | @AnthonyDabbundo