Buddy Boeheim scores career-high 22 points in Syracuse's win over Bucknell

The sophomore guard finished the day with his best shooting performance in his Syracuse career.

Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images

Syracuse Orange men’s basketball guard Buddy Boeheim finished with a career-high 22 points on Saturday over Bucknell. The sophomore guard made six 3s, also a career-high, against the Bison.

Boeheim’s previous best in points was 20 against Pittsburgh in the 2019 ACC Tournament. His previous career-high in made 3s was four, something he did on three separate occasions in his freshman season.

On Saturday, Boeheim missed his first two shots of the game against Bucknell, but he was able to settle in and make his first jumper about five minutes into the contest on Saturday. He followed that up with a steal and a made three from the corner in an early sequence. Boeheim would later hit a pull up two, and then knock down a three from the left wing before the half.

Early in the second, Boeheim connected a series where he’d knock down four consecutive 3s, all of them from the right wing. On the first, Joe Girard found him above the 3-point line on a quick pass with just enough daylight for a quick Boeheim release. Nothing but net.

On the next play in transition, Girard dribbled over the timeline, inside the arc and then laterally in the direction of the Syracuse bench. He executed a dribble hand-off to Boeheim for a three. Pure.

After his second made three of the half, Elijah Hughes passed to Buddy on the right wing, set a screen and freed up the sophomore. Walter Ellis couldn’t get through the screen and there was no hedge from Hughes’s defender. Boeheim dribbled twice to his left and had space to shoot. Nylon.

On the last of the sequence, Hughes mimicked Girard and synonymously had a dribble hand-off to Boeheim from the same spot in front of the Syracuse bench. Bottom.

The last three in the sequence gave Syracuse 71 points in the game and thus, Taco Time.

With a 40-point margin separating Syracuse and Bucknell, Boeheim’s day was done early, but it was the best shooting performance of his young career. He shot 6-8 from deep on the day, bringing his 3-point shooting percentage up to 39.0 percent on the season.

He credited his teammates for finding him post-game.

“Guys were finding me making plays and I got into rhythm in the second half,” Buddy Boeheim said. “Guys were just looking for me after that we were able to knock down a couple in a row.”