Boeheim brothers combine for 45 in Syracuse’s 74-69 loss to Virginia

Syracuse men’s basketball started the new year sluggishly at the Dome on Saturday night. That hangover lingered throughout SU’s 74-69 loss to Virginia, the team’s first ACC loss of the season.

Buddy Boeheim led the Orange (7-6) in scoring for the third game in a row with 27 points, five assists, four rebounds and five three-pointers. Jimmy Boeheim finished with 18 points and nine boards. Nobody with a last name other than Boeheim reached double-digit points for SU.

“For us to be successful offensively, Joe (Girard III) and Cole (Swider) have got to be there for us,” head coach Jim Boeheim said about Girard and Swider, who combined for 11 points. “We got as much as we could expect from Jimmy and as much as we could expect from Buddy. We’re certainly not going to win with two guys.”

Four turnovers and shooting nine of 25 first-half field goals early in the game pitted SU down 10 to their conference foe. But the Orange closed the first frame on a 16-6 run to negate that 10-point deficit. A buzzer-beating Jesse Edwards’ leg-kick driving shot tied the game at 33 before halftime.

“Virginia’s a great defensive team,” Buddy said. “Scoring almost 70 points against them, I don’t think it’s as much on our offense as much on our defense. We were getting good shots.”

“I think we really moved the ball well, used the pick and roll well, giving it to Jesse (Edwards), him taking advantage there on the perimeter. I think our offense overall was pretty good.”

Cavaliers guard Kihei Clark scored 14 second-half points to keep UVA slightly ahead of the Orange for most of the second frame. SU took the lead briefly with about 13:30 to go after Jimmy polished off passes from Girard and Buddy for an emphatic dunk down the baseline.

𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍𝙄𝙏𝙔 😤@jimmyb_23

📺 ACCN pic.twitter.com/cFPAZMFjqA

— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) January 2, 2022

Four Virginia players finished with double-digit points. Kadin Shedrick totaled a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds while forcing Edwards into five fouls. The Cavaliers flipped the court and scored 14 points off Syracuse’s 11 turnovers.

The Orange, again, worked to reach the free-throw line as they did in Monday’s win over Brown. While their free-throw percentage as a team improved, shooting 15-23, Jimmy only shot 25% from the line on eight attempts. UVA’s win Saturday night was their seventh over Syracuse in the schools’ last eight meetings.

“We battled the whole game. Virginia’s good, they’re a smart, good team,” Jim said. “They’ve been better than us. Tonight, they were better than us.”

Now two games into their conference schedule, Syracuse will travel to play Miami on Jan. 5.